Many years ago, I happened to see a remarkable sight ~ an amazing collection of wind turbines in northern California. What I never expected to see was an amazing collection of turbines in Iroquois County. (and I'm using the word amazing very loosely)
Last year I was gently encouraged by a co-worker to educate myself about wind farms in general. How could I refuse? One of the first things I did was type wind farm scams into Google. And what followed was an education! In a blur of clicking, reading, clicking, and reading, one thing became clear ~ wind farms benefit the companies subsidized by our elected government. Period.
At some point over the past several years I must have read that parts of Europe were investing heavily in wind farms, so that's where I headed first. Came across a blog with a decidedly different name, The Devil's Kitchen. Read that blog and headed on to a short story in the The Telegraph. Watts Up With That? and the accompanying comments consumed a few minutes worth of time. (the comments section of most anything I read online is usually the best)
Throughout Illinois, hundreds (if not thousands) of land owners have signed leases with various wind energy companies. The leases are kept on record at the court house and may be viewed by one and all. The contracts signed once a turbine(s) will actually go up on a site have these pesky confidentiality clauses in them. And those are definitely NOT kept at the court house for anyone to peruse. Because something so good for all of America must be cloaked in secrecy.
I spent some time this summer at the court house. Looking at leases. While I wasn't able to go through all of them, one thing soon became clear: many of the signed leases were owned by people not living in the county........some didn't even live in the state. "Well, they own it. They can do what they want with it." I'll go along with that ~ to an extent.
Power produced by turbines can't be stored for use at a later time. Use it right away or lose it. Wind conditions have to be favorable for the turbines to produce power. According to the US Department of Energy, Iroquois County is in a marginal wind zone. That puts it one step above poor. So, it's imperative that these turbines be erected to make use of our marginal wind? And what happens when the wind is less than marginal for a day, week, or month? Here comes the really funny part: coal-powered plants still have to run all the time because they can't rely on turbines to provide power when needed. Kind of kooky how that works, huh?
Another thing the wind companies don't like to bring up too soon is the fact that there is no infrastructure to get the power from point A to point B. As you drive in the rural Sheldon area, notice how many farms have turbines on them and how many don't. The ones that refused the wind company largess by signing a lease may still end up losing valued land. For the lines needed to get power from point A to point B. And they won't be given a choice ~ that's where eminent domain enters the picture.
Farm owners are paid for use of their land. They receive the money from wind energy companies. Who, in turn, receive their money from the US government. That's YOU. These aren't companies who so strongly believe in their product that they actually went out and found venture capitalists to fund them. Well, they tried. Turns out there isn't a good return on this particular investment. Luckily for them, our government doesn't ask before spending the money they take from us. Just ask Solyndra.
In my fairy-tale world as Queen for a Year, I would mandate that everyone shower with heated unicorn tears and dry off with the air generated by millions of fluttering butterfly wings. In my real world vision, my name wouldn't be on this wind farm IOU and neither would yours. It's just one more thing to put on the To Be Paid By Future Generations list. Landowners have sold their souls for a few government trinkets and we all get to pay for it, in the words of Buzz Lightyear, "to infinity and beyond!" One of these days, the turbines might actually produce enough wind to blow down the house of cards that our country has become.
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