COOK COUNTY LOCAL ENERGY PROJECT

Wind Power Working Group

The Cook County Local Energy Project has formed a Wind Power Working-Group to take the lead in implementing various projects and programs to develop our wind resource.

This group currently meets once a month, and is made up of Cook County neighbors just like you. If you would like to participate in, or communicate with, the Wind Power Working-Group, contact Jeremy Lopez.

Wind Power Working-Group News & Meeting Summaries

Current Research

North Shore Bird Migration
Bird Migration Study
MPR North Shore Wind Report by Stephanie Hemphill



Projects and Programs

Small Wind

On Jan. 21, 2009 the Wind Working Group sponsored its first successful workshop on small wind, attended by 50 to 60 people at the North House Folk School. Small wind offers the exciting prospect that many Cook County businesses and residents may eventually be able to take substantial control of their own energy future, either through small wind alone or through small wind combined with solar energy, biomass or both.

The Wind Working Group expects to focus substantial amounts of time and energy on small wind. Most of the working group's focus to date, however, has been focused on the possibility of getting a large wind project off the ground.

Big Wind

The Wind Working Group is exploring in some depth the possible development of a large wind turbine project that would generate between 1.5 and 5 megawatts of electrical power, potentially generating up to half the electrical energy required by Cook County homes, businesses and government.

The complexities of the electrical grid are such that it is unlikely that wind power generated in Cook County would be used directly in Cook County. But wind power generated here would effectively offset a substantial portion of the coal-fired power we now use, and it would potentially return to the county a significant portion of the revenue now spent on electricity generated elsewhere. A wind turbine project also has the potential to generate jobs in Cook County both in the short term (construction) and long term (maintenance and operation).

The Wind Working Group is fortunate to have secured two important partners in its large-wind efforts. Windustry, a statewide non-profit dedicated to wind energy has formally accepted CCLEP as a wind-development partner. This means that Windustry's considerable resources and expertise will be available to guide the Wind Working Group through the process of exploring the potential of a large-wind project and, if all goes well, actually developing that project.

Prof. Mike Mageau of the University of Minnesota-Duluth has agreed to lead the Wind Working Group's effort to investigate the potential for large wind development in Cook County. Mageau has done preliminary wind monitoring that shows good potential at a number of sites in the county.

We have received a grant to fund Mageau's wind-monitoring work. After looking at Mageau's preliminary map of wind potential for Cook County and comparing it to a map of existing electrical transmission and distribution lines and land ownership we came up with a preliminary list of sites that appear to have good potential as locations for wind turbines.

Mike Mageau installed wind monitoring equipment at two of these locations in the fall of 2009. The grant funds one year of wind monitoring and analysis of the data collected at a few sites in Cook County.

It is quite likely, we are told, that the wind potential does exist to justify a commercial turbine project. The more difficult questions will revolve around the cost of generating the power and the price we can get for that power when we sell it to a utility. We will need a comprehensive feasibility study that looks not only at that question, but at various organizational models, regulatory and permitting issues, etc. We are just beginning to investigate how we might explore those questions and how we might raise the funding necessary to do that. As we continue that exploration, updates will appear here. Please check back to keep abreast of our progress.