We believe that having renewable energy as an increasing percentage of our overall power supply is important to our customers, better for our environment and helps keep our energy costs low. ILPT and 50 other municipal member utilities that make up WPPI Energy, are the owner of 132 megawatts of wind power at the Bishop Hill Energy Center through 2040. With 53 wind turbines, the wind farm can power as many as 46,200 homes and businesses, and offset an estimated 414,800 tons of carbon dioxide annually. During construction, Bishop Hill supported 214 jobs and the facility currently supports a full-time staff of five employees.
“Bishop Hill III is as an excellent part of our power supply because, not only does it more than double the wind energy in our portfolio, but it is also projected to lower our costs to WPPI Energy member utilities,” said WPPI Energy President & CEO Mike Peters. “We are pleased to continue our strong, longstanding relationship with our partners in this facility.”
This project represents the third phase of Invenergy’s Bishop Hill Wind Energy Center in Henry County, following the 211.4-megawatt Bishop Hill I and 81-megawatt Bishop Hill II wind projects. With the addition of Bishop Hill III, Invenergy now has a clean energy project portfolio totaling more than 1,600 megawatts of installed capacity in the state of Illinois.