McHenry County Blog

Illinois windmills and grain elevator.

Strange things happen in politics.

Evidence of that is the pro-windmill Political Action Committee, Clean Energy Illinois is providing a staffer to assist Dee Beaubien (Ind.-Madigan).

And, today I noticed that Clean Energy Illinois has given $1,000 to David McSweeney’s campaign.

$1,200 for a staffer for Beaubien; $1,000 in cash to McSweeney.

Hedging one’s bets, I guess.

I also notice $1,500 for Citizens for Tom Cross.

That’s two contributions for Republicans.

A new political committee was founded in July.

It’s called Clean Energy Illinois; its chairman and treasurer are both the same individual, a Chicago man named Barry Matchett.

Since August 22, it has taken in at least $67,500 mostly in $10,000 contributions from “renewable” and “wind” energy companies or PACs located in Chicago, Oregon, Texas, Florida and Washington, DC.

Its purpose is “to support candidates for public office who support clean energy.”

Nothing wrong with that.

Perhaps.

But take a look at their website:

The top of the Clean Energy Illinois Political Action Committee web site.

It appears that the “long-term strategy” of this special interest group is to plant windmills all the way to the horizon.

Is that what we want in McHenry County?

Apparently, at least one of our state legislative candidates thinks we do. W

hy else would the Madigan-backed Dee Beaubien, challenging Republican David McSweeney for the 52nd District House seat, be taking money from Clean Energy Illinois to pay an Evanston staffer?

When I went looking for how Clean Energy Illinois is putting its contributions, I found this:

The in-kind contributions from Clean Energy Illinois PAC, which is promoting the installation of windmills.  Nicole Fredricks of Evanston has been assigned to help Dee Beaubien.

So far, no Republicans.

Just House Speaker Mike Madigan’s candidates for the Illinois House – notably including Dee Beaubien.

What set me on this search?

My late father used to say that if something seemed logical in the public arena, it probably was what was happening.

That’s why I found so intriguing an issue raised during last week’s debate between 26th District GOP State Senator Dan Duffy and his Democratic challenger Amanda Howland and, then, between 52nd District Republican State Representative nominee David McSweeney and his Madigan-backed opponent Dee Beaubien.

Not since the 1990s have I heard a debate on this proposal, and at that time, it was designed to thwart pig farms.

Big pig farms.

They generally stink, and people don’t want to be neighbors. (I remember the best sticker of the decade was “Pigs don’t vote.” Windmills don’t either, but apparently, they do fund candidates.)

Amanda Howland

Someone raised a question about affordable housing, and Amanda Howland suggested

“universal building codes.”

Dee Beaubien

Then State Rep. candidate Dee Beaubien brought up the same topic in response to a question about over-regulation of business. Oddly, she cited as a problem,

“… no uniform building code for the state.”

Who would have an interest in imposing a “uniform building code” throughout the state?

A PAC whose commercial interest would be advanced by stripping local citizens and property owners of their say in local land-use policies?

When this post card came from Dee Beaubien, financed by the Democratic Party of Illinois, I wondered where in the district which she seeks to represent she proposed putting windmills. Surely not Barrington Hills, her home town.

It may be time to tilt at windmills, before our legislators in Springfield decide for us whether we will be seeing – and hearing – them in our own neighborhoods.

After looking at the mailing that arrived today for Dee Beaubien (Ind.-Madigan) from the Democratic Party of Illinois, I continue to wonder if the Barrington Hills resident is suggesting that windmills should be allowed in her hometown.

This address side of Mike Madigan’s latest mailing on Dee Beaubien’s behalf has Dee Beaubien proclaiming her independence.

Dee Beaubien’s latest mailing financed by Illinois Democrats suggests windmills should be erected.

And, if the windmills should not be put in the open spaces of Barrington Hills, then would they be better located in Lake Killarney subdivision?

Windmills dwarf a grain elevator.

According to an article in the First Electric Newspaper, a company who tried and failed to get zoning authority to build a natural gas peaker plant near the intersection of Routes 47 and 176 has made itself known to Unit School District 300.

Here’s the paragraph that caught my attention:

“A spokesman at Indeck Energy, Buffalo Grove, confirmed Monday that its Donica Creek windfarm  is the only one of three planned for Edgar County that’s completed a critical interconnect study to hook to the grid.  The windfarm was supposed to be under construction by now but it isn’t and he was unable to say why.”

Th0se in the area may remember that Indeck lost its McHenry County Board vote, sued McHenry County and lost in court.

Stop the Stacks was the name of the group that found the peaker plant.

The 120-foot windmill blade looks like an airplane propeller.

I went to a township meeting north of Crystal Lake last night in which no one raised his or her voice, no one insulted anyone, people asked sincere questions and heard a proposal to save money.

Getting over before 9, it was a long meeting for Nunda Township, but only because of a presentation by a windmill company and a construction manager.

The regular items of business seemed to take about a minute apiece. I’m talking approval of minutes, bills, stuff like that.

Starting township officials thinking about windmills was the Aurora Township Road Commissioner John Shoemaker, whose windmill will go online within a week, if nothing unforeseen occurs.

What tipped the decision point for Aurora Township was the cost of street lights.

Nunda Township Supervisor John Heisler holds up McHenry County's windmill guidelines.

While the energy generated on site will be used on site most of the time and will only offset street lighting costs (for which the township is billed a monthly rate that does not vary with use), any surplus electricity sold to the grid could be used to offset street light costs.

Com Ed is seeking to raise electric rates by about 7%, which was presented as a reason to try to cut electricity.

And, grants seem to be available to offset construction and equipment costs for the first ones applying.

Emmit George and Mark Baum make windmill presentation to the Nunda Township Board.

Aurora Township, for instance, asked for almost the maximum amount it thought available from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs–$39,900–and was said to have gotten even more. The program is called the “Solar Energy Rebate Program” administered through the Renewable Energy Resources Program.

Nunda Township had electric bills of $51,900 during a recent twelve month period.

Mark Baum looks on as Emmit George makes his windmill presentation.

With two windmills annual kilowatt output is estimated at 39,902 by the company selling them, ElectriTech out of Naperville. An average wind speed of 12 miles per hour is assumed.

That’s less than 25% of power Nunda uses, excluding street lights.

Township Supervisor John Heisler said he would hold a hearing after notifying local residents before proceeding.

Other local governments considering buying the 10 kilowatt Bergey windmills are Algonquin Township and the McHenry Township Fire Protection District.

Helping with the pitch was Mark Baum of the construction management company R.C. Wegman. It supervised the Aurora project and would be paid 12% of the cost of construction and the windmills.

The windmills, including installation, are estimated to cost something from $150,000 to $175,000, plus it seems to me the 12% charged by R.C. Wegman for construction management.

That’s what ElectiTech’s Emmit George’s paperwork said.

As the Illinois House passed legislation to define the burning of tires in the poverty-stricken Ford Heights as green, renewable energy, an incinerator in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, defaulted on a bond payment of $425,000.

The legislative action on Senate Bill 380 will take subsidies away from wind mills, geothermal and solar power projects.

Here are some windmills we saw in Idaho last summer.

The incinerator is apparently already operating, but needs state taxpayer subsidies to stay afloat.

The incinerator not only has money problems, it pollutes the air.

If the facility closes, 17 jobs will be lost.

The bill passed 61-45.  I should have said “barely passed,” because bills need sixty votes to pass the House.

Locally, State Reps. Mark Beaubien and Jack Franks voted against the bill.  Mike Tryon was excused from voting on the bill.

Earlier all Illinois Senators supported the bill, which had no content.  It was what legislators call “a shell bill.”

I wonder how Pam Althoff and Dan Duffy will votes when there is substance to the bill, which, I would point out did not surface until the supposed last week of the legislative session, a time really sneaky ideas surface.

(That brings up the subject of what anyone would vote for such an obvious shell bill, knowing that you have no idea how it will end up.)

The Chicago Tribune article was written by Michael Hawthorne and Michelle Manchir.

This sounds like a similar bill I opposed in the 1990′s. It was one of those strange years when environmental and economic priorities merged. Voting against the ill-conceived idea of a South Suburban incinerator to burn shredded tires was a “two-for” for those rating systems. I think I ended up with the highest ranking from the Illinois Environmental Council that year.

A location needs two things to support windmills:

• Wind
• High power lines

I don’t know if there is adequate wind blowing past the Huntley School District 158 Administrative Building, but there are certainly high power lines.

Electric company Com Ed, of course, makes it as difficult as possible to get wind mills off the ground.

But it might be possible. And the expert in the area for schools is David Ulm. He’s right next door in District 300.

= = = = =
The windmills you see above were seen in Idaho.

McHenry County Blog has been exploring wind energy possibilities.

Our first story pointed out that it is virtually non-existent in the Northern Illinois:

The next two stories (Quest-1, Quest-2) told of District 300 Energy Management Coordinator David Ulm’s efforts to bring windmill electricity to his school district:

So, why does Ulm think there is potential?

“Hampshire High School exists in trough that runs from Iowa Northeast across Illinois. One of them we happen to sit right in the middle of. That’s why we can produce 87% in a 3-month study.

“Gilberts lies on Route 72 just west of Dundee. Jacobs has potential.

“(Windmills) now need 7 mile an hour winds and can produce at 3. Now you are producing very little, but you are producing.”

How far north does this trough go?

“All of McHenry County,” Ulm said.

Here is a map that shows wind potential as well as electric transmission lines:

You will note the transmission lines that run north of Veterans Acres in Crystal Lake west to Rockford.

The lines near the intersection of Routes 176 and 47 are the ones that the gas generated peaker plant turbine companies want to build their plants.

You remember, the ones that would suck up the ground water we are running short of for drinking purposes. Just like ethanol plants would.

The high power lines run right next to Huntley School District 158′s Square Barn Road Campus.

Look at the drifting of snow on Raffle Road near the new Woodstock North High School.

Think a windmill might work on that site?

I also asked about neighborhood objections in Hampshire.

“No one has come forward with regard to our putting one near the high school,” he replied.

“I got permission from the (Hampshire) village board back in October of ’07. I got permission from the school board in Nov. ’07.”

Clearly, David Ulm is not your typical hesitant government employee.

How high are the windmills?

“The test is 150 feet.

The utility grade windmill?

“370 feet.

“Same size as Paw Paw.”

= = = = =
On top you see a storage field for wind turbine blades between Bloomington and Decatur on Interstate 39. It was taken last June on the way to the Republican State Convention.

Next is a broad brush wind speed map with a box containing information about what colors mean what.

Below that is a picture taken January 27, 2009, of snow drifting across Raffle Road north of Woodstock. Woodstock North High School is seen at the upper left of the horizon.

At the bottom of the article is the wind farm near Paw Paw, Illinois, on Interstate 39.

The turbines are certainly not as ugly as the high power lines.

Click to enlarge any image.

McHenry County Blog has been exploring wind energy possibilities.

Our first story pointed out that it is virtually non-existent in the Northern Illinois:

The next two stories (Quest-1, Quest-2) told of District 300 Energy Management Coordinator David Ulm’s efforts to bring windmill electricity to his school district:

So, why does Ulm think there is potential?

“Hampshire High School exists in trough that runs from Iowa Northeast across Illinois. One of them we happen to sit right in the middle of. That’s why we can produce 87% in a 3-month study.

“Gilberts lies on Route 72 just west of Dundee. Jacobs has potential.

“(Windmills) now need 7 mile an hour winds and can produce at 3. Now you are producing very little, but you are producing.”

How far north does this trough go?

“All of McHenry County,” Ulm said.

Here is a map that shows wind potential as well as electric transmission lines:

You will note the transmission lines that run north of Veterans Acres in Crystal Lake west to Rockford.

The lines near the intersection of Routes 176 and 47 are the ones that the gas generated peaker plant turbine companies want to build their plants.

You remember, the ones that would suck up the ground water we are running short of for drinking purposes. Just like ethanol plants would.

The high power lines run right next to Huntley School District 158′s Square Barn Road Campus.

Look at the drifting of snow on Raffle Road near the new Woodstock North High School.

Think a windmill might work on that site?

I also asked about neighborhood objections in Hampshire.

“No one has come forward with regard to our putting one near the high school,” he replied.

“I got permission from the (Hampshire) village board back in October of ’07. I got permission from the school board in Nov. ’07.”

Clearly, David Ulm is not your typical hesitant government employee.

How high are the windmills?

“The test is 150 feet.

The utility grade windmill?

“370 feet.

“Same size as Paw Paw.”

= = = = =
On top you see a storage field for wind turbine blades between Bloomington and Decatur on Interstate 39. It was taken last June on the way to the Republican State Convention.

Next is a broad brush wind speed map with a box containing information about what colors mean what.

Below that is a picture taken January 27, 2009, of snow drifting across Raffle Road north of Woodstock. Woodstock North High School is seen at the upper left of the horizon.

At the bottom of the article is the wind farm near Paw Paw, Illinois, on Interstate 39.

The turbines are certainly not as ugly as the high power lines.

Click to enlarge any image.

Yesterday, McHenry County Blog outlined printed the first half of David Ulm’s quest to produce Carpentersville District 300′s electricity from windmills.

Today we look at how he proposes to pay for it.

“We’re ready to move as soon as our Met (Meteorological) Tower results come in next November.

“Under the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation (ICEF), we received $30,000 to do this test” Ulm said.

“At the end of the 12 months, we will then apply to them for a grant to get a tower. They will only give grants based on a 12-month study.

“We are confident we would gain enough information in a 3-month period to move forward,” but Ulm told me that the rules of the ICEF require a 12-month test.

“The tower went up in Nov. It shows we could support a tower out there. For the first three months we are 87%.”

Nevertheless, Ulm takes a conservative approach.

“We are talking about a $6 million project and I’m not about to waste any taxpayers’ money.”

Ulm explained that the Foundation will provide about 10% of the project’s cost.

“The ICCF grant might amount to as much as 10%, $600,000,” he said.

Then, he pointed out what that would mean to District 300:

“The interest on a $6 million bond over ten years is not equal to $600,000.”

But the bonds would be structured so that the savings would pay them back, even if it took more than ten year.

So, maybe free money.

And, what if District 300 decides to build a wind farm somewhere?

“Since each windmill costs $5-6 million,” Ulm said, “with economies of scale, if we were to install 5 or 6 on one site, we’d probably be looking at $30 million.

“Assuming at 80% efficiency, we’d be looking at a 15 year payback.”

And how would that be financed?

“The new stimulus package is available online. There are quite a few grants available for school district construction and infrastructure improvements and there is a line in there that Dr. (Cheryl) Crates found that shows interest bond money.

“There are currently Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREB). Those have been around since 2006. $200 million for 2006, $400 million part of the farm bill in 2007. They threw it in under the stimulus bill of 2008–$400 million.

“First come, first served.

“We could get it interest free because the lender would get a tax credit equal to what the interest would be. It’s a ‘zero interest’ loan.

“There’s plenty of ways to go.”

But to get the electricity to schools in Carpentersville, Dundee, Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, etc., use of Commonwealth Edison’s transmission lines would be necessary and less restrictive state laws are needed. (See story yesterday.)

= = = = =
David Olm, Carpentersville School District 300′s Energy Management Coordinator is seen on the upper right. Part of the Paw Paw wind farm is below, seen the day the tornado crossed I-39 shortly before we reached here. Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Crates is seen near the bottom of the article.