A New $1.5 Billion Wind Farm Will Play In Peoria
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It ain’t over ’til it’s over, but the proposed $1.5 billion, 500-megawatt Four Creeks wind farm in Peoria County, Illinois has just passed a key step in the approval process. The new milestone is yet another indication that the domestic wind industry will continue to play a key role in the US energy transition, regardless of the topsy-turvy energy policy articulated by US President Donald Trump.
Trump’s War On Wind Farms
If you’re somewhat shocked to hear word of a new wind farm proposal in the US, join the club. The President has spent considerable time, energy, and taxpayer dollars in a Herculean effort to keep new wind turbines from cropping up around the US under his watch. However, his efforts have earned only mixed success so far.
Offshore wind turbines keep slipping through the cracks, even though virtually every offshore wind farm in the US is subject to federal authority. Opportunities for wind power also persist on land, where the President’s direct authority is limited to projects on federal property.
Trump attempted to work around that obstacle in August of 2025, when he weaponized an otherwise routine wind project review process that applies to projects on non-federal property. The change in policy threw at least 155 onshore wind projects totaling 45 gigawatts into limbo, prompting a lawsuit from a coalition of clean energy organizations and wind energy developers.
In July of this year, Attorneys General in 19 states intervened in support of the lawsuit. The participants included Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington State.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who co-led the intervention, notes that federal law does require wind developers to submit proposals for wind turbines more than 200 feet tall to the Federal Aviation Administration, which then refers the project to DoD to check for any conflicts with military operations and related activities. Raoul further notes that the normal process involves collaborating on mitigation measures to resolve any conflicts.
That all ground to a halt in August of 2025, when DoD dropped the ball on its part of the process. “Officials ceased countersigning mitigation agreements, stopped sending completed agreements to developers for signature, and delayed or halted communications with developers about mitigation,” Raoul explained in a press statement in July.
The abrupt change in policy impacted at least nine wind projects in Illinois alone. According to Raoul’s office the nine projects represent $4.3 billion in private investment, or more.
Wind Farms Keep Persisting
Separately, on June 16 of this year the same coalition of state Attorneys General won the final resolution of a series of legal challenges to an Executive Order issued in January of 2025, in which Trump ordered a halt to all federal approvals for wind projects.
The DoD lawsuit is heading down the same path, at least so far. On August 6, a federal judge with the US District Court for the District of Oregon ordered DoD to resume its normal wind turbine review process while the case continues to wind its way through the courts.
DoD has been slow-walking the process since then, reportedly approving just 11 projects since August. However, the US branch of the global clean energy developer Repsol already saw the writing on the wall. On August 14, just one week after the Oregon decision came down, Repsol Renewables began submitting paperwork for the proposed Four Creeks Wind project.
“Repsol Renewables has identified northwest Peoria County as suitable for wind development because of a robust wind resource, its proximity to the existing electric transmission system with available capacity, compatibility with existing land use, and minimal anticipated environmental impacts,” Repsol summarized, with existing land use referring to provisions in the Peoria County Code that permit commercial wind farms in certain agricultural districts.
Although the wind farm involves a total of 27,000 acres on private land, each of the project’s 113 turbines will only account for less than one acre. The bulk of the land is dedicated to required setbacks as well as adequate spacing between the turbines.
Money Talks
Things are moving along at a relatively fast clip so far. On November 6, Peoria public radio station WCBU reported that the land use committee of the Peoria County Board recommended the Four Creeks project by a 6-3 vote. The project almost appeared to be dead in September when the Zoning Board of Appeals issued a 4-1 denial, but the Zoning Board also voted to include conditions for consideration by the full Peoria County Board at its meeting on November 5. The County Board approved the Four Creeks proposal on a split vote of 12-5 alongside a list of 36 restrictions mainly governing construction and operations.
Wind fans, don’t break out the champagne just yet. Repsol still has to apply for construction permits, and the entire process could take up to five years or so before shovels meet ground.
If and when Four Creeks materializes, Repsol is prepared to pour more than $193 million into the coffers of the Princeville, Brimfield, Williamsfield, and Stark County School Districts, with an additional $44.7 million in total property tax revenues for Peoria County and associated jurisdictions.
Repsol also draws attention to more than $69.4 million in total property tax revenues earmarked for libraries, fire districts, Illinois Central College, local road authorities, and the Greater Metro Airport Authority among other community resources.
Local property owners will also rake in millions of dollars in escalating lease payments.
As for objections to the new wind farm, WCBU reporter Joe Deacon highlighted remarks by Peoria County Board member Terry Ruhland, who acknowledged those who spoke against the project at a public meeting.
“I don’t know how many people are in this room; I won’t even guess. But there is at least 179,000 people in Peoria County who are not in this room,” Rhuland said.
“Of that 179 [thousand], for every school kid who deserves the best education we can give them, and for every family that’s struggling to pay their utility bills, I’m going to vote yes,” Ruhland added.
Perhaps Ruhland was also thinking of Laborers Local 165, which has been working with Repsol for more than a year on developing a local workforce for the project. In a hearing before the Zoning Board in September, union representative Dane Simpson asserted that each wind turbine would account for approximately 3,000 hours of work.
Image: The global energy developer Repsol is on track to construct a 500-megawatt wind farm in Peoria County, Illinois, regardless of last year’s sharp U-turn in federal energy policy (screenshot, courtesy of Repsol).
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