Minneapolis company to lease land for wind farm

By Isaac Guerrero

BusinessRockford.com

A Minneapolis company is leasing land from western Winnebago County landowners for its planned 100-turbine wind farm that would generate enough electricity to power 44,000 homes.

The turbines would dot the western half of the county and a bit of Stephenson County and would stretch from the Wisconsin border to just south of the Winnebago-Ogle county line. The precise layout, however, depends on how negotiations with landowners pan out.

In 2003, Minneapolis-based Navitas Energy built a smaller wind farm in Lee County near the Paw Paw exit on Interstate 39. More recently, the firm won zoning approval for wind farms in Stephenson and Ogle counties, though lawsuits have put those projects on hold.

Company officials have been canvassing rural Winnebago County for weeks. They’ve offered Richard Beuth about $7,600 a year for each plot of his farmland on which it could build a 410-foot turbine.

“We’re all for it,” said Richard Beuth, who farms near Seward. “The turbines actually wouldn’t take up that much space on our farm. After they’re built, each tower would take up a 100-foot-by-100-foot area, plus an access road that would need to go in there. It’s good money for the size of ground it takes up. Crop and livestock prices aren’t so good right now.”

The company’s lease agreements with landowners would last some 50 years. Rent payments from Navitas would increase a bit each year based on inflation, and the company would pay property taxes on land occupied by its turbines. Navitas would make money on the wind farm by supplying the local power grid with electricity.

Not everyone is thrilled with the proposal. Navitas held an informational meeting Tuesday at Seward Congregational Church. Officials acknowledged that the turbines would stand in the migratory path of endangered whooping cranes based in central Wisconsin.

“I’m all for alternative forms of energy, but what about the birds?” said Sally Hoff, a Pecatonica School Board member and rural Winnebago County landowner who attended the meeting.

Navitas will need zoning approval for the turbines from Winnebago County and possibly other local governments.

Reach Assistant Business Editor Isaac Guerrero at iguerrero@rrstar.com or 815-987-1353.