Brown County Wind Turbine

For photos of the construction process of Brown County Wind Turbine, visit Adams Outlet on Facebook!

Adams Electric's Second Wind Turbine

East of Mt. Sterling and south of Highway 24, Adams Electric Cooperative has erected a 1.5 MW wind turbine.

The site is located south of the Cooperative’s Mt. Sterling substation. The location is being leased from Joseph Ray, a member of Adams Electric Cooperative.

Instead of a gearbox, the Co-op’s new turbine is a direct drive unit, meaning the three blades will drive the generator. The blades will start producing electricity in winds as light as 6.7 miles per hour and reach full capacity in winds starting at 24.6 miles per hour. The tips of the blades at full capacity turn at 149.1 miles per hour.

This direct drive unit will create an annual generation of 4 million kWhs of energy per year, enough for about 300-400 homes.

The Brown County wind turbine is Adams Electric Cooperative’s second wind turbine.

The Brown County Wind Turbine was manufactured by Vensys, located in Germany. The blades were made in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The tower was made in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The generator, nacelle and convertor were made in Germany. The parts arrived in Mt. Sterling, Illinois, by semis and were assembled on site using two massive cranes.

Each blade weighs about 6 tons and attaches to a 16 ton hub. The hub is attached to a generator weighing 45 tons. The new landmark stands 279 feet tall to the hub and 403 feet tall to the tip of the blade.

Each blade on the Brown County Wind Turbine is 122 feet long. The entire assembly including the tower, blades, generator and rotor contains 986 (1 ½ inch dia.) bolts.

The Cooperative received a $450,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help fund thise project. Financing is secured through Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) which are low-interest loans (2.1%) for financing renewable energy projects.

The Cooperative will be hosting an open house and welcome visitors to the site on November 1, 2011. Watch for details in the Adams Outlet or call (800) 232-4797 for more information.

The First Utility-Scale Wind Turbine in Adams County

South of Quincy Regional Airport, along 1700E (Plainville Blacktop), Adams Electric Cooperative’s 900kW Pigeon Creek Wind Turbine reaches into the sky. The landmark is 246 feet tall (335 feet counting the blade).

The turbine was manufactured by Emergya Wind Technologies (EWT). Each blade weighs about 3,000 pounds and attaches to a 20,000 pound hub. The hub is attached to a generator weighing 69,000 pounds.

The Co-op’s wind turbine is a direct drive unit, meaning the three 89-foot blades will drive the generator. The blades start producing electricity in winds as light as six miles per hour and reach full capacity in winds starting at 31 miles per hour.

Power from the turbine is distributed to co-op members in the surrounding area. It will supply approximately 2.5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. That is enough power for about 200-300 homes.

The installed cost of the wind turbine was approximately $2 million. The Cooperative secured $1.5 million in Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) which is an interest-free loan for financing renewable energy projects. The Cooperative also received grants for the Adams County project: $150,000 from Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation (ICECF) and $250,000 from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO).

Find out how many kWh's the Pigeon Creek Wind Turbine produces each month -- information coming soon!

Why Wind?

The Cooperative's wind turbines will supplement current power supplies and act as a hedge against rising fuel costs. Wind is one of the best renewable energy sources because it produces no pollution, no combustion and no byproduct that would harm the environment. However, wind is not a good, single source of energy because it works only when the wind blows. With the help of financing, adding wind as a portion of our power portfolio makes sense. The wind turbine will help maintain Adams Electric’s power cost and reduce the Cooperative’s amount of electricity generated by other fuels.