Peoria County residents discuss opposition to windmill farms
BRIMFIELD, Ill. (WMBD) — The group "No to Peoria County Windmills" met at the American Legion in Brimfield Tuesday night, informing residents about the potential drawbacks to wind turbine farms.
This is in response to two proposed wind farms in the county, both of which are still in development. First is the Four Creeks Wind project by Repsol Renewables , which would span across Brimfield, Jubilee, Millbrook, and Princeville Townships.
Repsol's website states that the project would install around 400 megawatts of energy to the area and would power more than 130,000 homes in Illinois.
The second project is the Goldrush Apple Wind farm project, which would cover parts of northern Peoria County and southern Stark County. On the project's website, it states that the direct financial impact of the project will be well over $200 million.
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But for those such as Rick Porter, an attorney representing No to Peoria County Windmills, the projects would cause more harm than good to those living in the farm's vicinity.
In his presentation, he mentioned things such as shadow flicker, which occurs when the sun shines through the turbine blades, causing a shadow to flicker on the insides of people's homes. This can lead to headaches and nausea, as well as general annoyance.
The noise that the windmills generate also can be problematic, and Porter said that he knows people who have stopped living in their homes due to the noise.
"These turbines could be as tall as 700 feet and will have shadow flicker, noise, and property value impacts. So, we have some experts here to tell people about those impacts that happen when one lives by industrial wind turbines," he said.
He added that the turbines being as tall as 700 feet is significant, comparing it to the Mendota Hills Wind Farm near Paw Paw, which are just over 200 feet tall.
While neither of the projects has been discussed at a county government level, both sides of the aisle made their voices heard at the last Peoria County Board meeting.
The group projects the county to discuss the Four Creeks project early next year, while the Goldrush project is projected to come up in 2027.
