Construction has been completed at EDP Renewables’ (EDPR) Bright Stalk Wind Farm, a 205 MW project located northeast of Bloomington-Normal in McLean County, Ill.
Bright Stalk represents a capital investment of more than $300 million and will pay up to $2.6 million per year in local taxes, which will contribute to and benefit McLean County’s schools, roads and other important public services. Millions of more dollars will also be paid out as an additional source of income to local farmers and landowners who lease a small percentage of their land to the wind farm to house the project’s turbines
Mortenson was the civil contractor in charge of the Bright Stalk Wind Farm’s construction. Vestas supplied the V136 3.6 MW turbines that were installed during the project.
Construction at Bright Stalk created hundreds of area jobs and will employ nine permanent positions to maintain and monitor the turbines throughout the project’s lifecycle. Aside from its economic benefits, Bright Stalk is expected to save McLean County more than 355 million gallons of water each year, displace carbon emissions from fossil fuels and mitigate the health effects of air pollutants.
Walmart and Salesforce, the wind farm’s power purchasers, enabled the development and construction of Bright Stalk, purchasing 123 MW and 80 MW, respectively, of the project’s capacity. Both companies share a goal of sourcing 100% of their energy from renewable energy sources; their investment in the Bright Stalk Wind Farm contributes to this mutual objective.
“We are consistently pursuing opportunities to expand our use of clean energy technologies,” says Mark Vanderhelm, vice president of energy for Walmart Inc. “Our investment in the Bright Stalk Wind Farm directly reinforces Walmart’s commitment of powering 50% of our operations with renewable energy by the end of 2025.”
To date, EDPR operates more than 1,000 MW of wind energy projects in Illinois and will surpass 1,200 MW in the coming months when its 200 MW Harvest Ridge Wind Farm, currently under construction in Douglas County, comes online.
To learn more about the Bright Stalk Wind Farm, click here.
Photo: The Bright Stalk Wind Farm.
