One comment that often comes up when covering wind energy meetings in Adams County is that the energy produced is not used locally and usually benefits a larger city such as Chicago that doesn’t have to live with turbines.
However, there is discussion of developing a wind farm near Chicago. An Evanston committee is looking at the possible development of a wind farm in Lake Michigan.
The original concept that was submitted to Evanston officials called for 40 turbines.
Committee members heard about proposed legislation in the Illinois General Assembly would create the Lake Michigan Offshore Wind Energy Council. House Bill 1558 was passed the House and is now in the Senate. The council would study offshore wind development in Lake Michigan and report findings to the General Assembly and Gov. Pat Quinn by the end of the year.
Right now, this is just discussion, but it would not be the first offshore project in the country. In April, a 130-turbine wind farm was approved off the coast of Massachusetts. The development was subject to many critics including the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy and current Sen. Scott Brown.
Turbines will be 5 miles off the coast covering 24 square miles.
