As Evanston examines the logistics of building a wind farm in Lake Michigan, city officials say they are eager to learn more about the project’s potential economic impact.
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of the Office of Sustainability issuing a “Request for Information” about how the wind farm might be built and funded. The Office of Sustainability will also look for potential developers for the project.
Ald. Don Wilson (4th) said he thought the vote sent a positive message to residents about the city’s environmental consciousness.
“I thought it was important to let people know that we’re receptive to this kind of idea,” he said.
But in order to approve the wind farm, Wilson said he needs to see that it will not cost the city money.
“I hope that it would be economically viable,” he said. “I don’t believe that the city itself is in any kind of position to pay for it.”
Last spring, Northwestern students completing an independent study with McCormick Prof. Neal Blair researched how a city like Evanston might build an offshore wind farm in the Great Lakes. Weinberg senior Jessica Kunke, who took the class, said the steps Evanston has taken so far follow the path the class’s final report laid out.
“That part is consistent with what we were recommending,” she said of the city’s Request for Information. “We’ll see from here.”
But the wind farm being considered is smaller than the minimum size developers told Blair’s class would be profitable, said SESP sophomore Elan Siedband, who also took the class. And even 40 turbines-the number being considered-might be out of the city’s price range, he said.
“I don’t know if Evanston alone has the political sway or financial capacity to consider a project of this magnitude,” Siedband said.
One way to make the turbines affordable would be to delegate their construction to a contractor, Wilson said.
Lyle Harrison, CEO of Mercury Wind Energy, a local development company, said he wants to be that contractor. Because he has lived in Evanston all his life, Harrison said he would be more conscious of the city’s needs than other developers.
“If Evanston wants to own the facility and they just want me to build it, I’m OK with that,” he said. “I’m open to anything Evanston’s interested in.”
Harrison said the greatest obstacle to building a wind farm is resistance from lakefront residents worried about the project’s impact on their property values.
“There’s a lot of people in Evanston that don’t want the turbines up because it’ll change the landscape of the water,” he said.
At the council meeting Tuesday, residents raised other concerns, focusing on the wind farm’s impact on Lake Michigan’s ecosystem. Libby Hill, vice president of the Evanston North Shore Bird Club, said although she supports the project, she worries about the number of birds the turbines’ blades will kill.
Ald. Judy Fiske (1st) said at the meeting that when researching the wind farm, she came across similar environmental concerns.
“Bats actually explode when they get hit by wind turbines,” she said.
Kevin Glynn, spokesman for Citizens for a Greener Evanston, an environmental group that has researched the potential project for two years, said the Request for Information would determine the validity of those concerns.
“Let the RFI figure out what the real issues are,” he said. “To say they kill birds and they kill bats-well, maybe they do and maybe they don’t.”
Glynn said he was optimistic the city ultimately would vote to build the turbines.Harrison, the contractor who wants to build the wind farm, emphasized that the turbines had ethical as well as financial value.
“In my opinion, Evanston should be proud of those turbines,” he said. “They mean no foreign oil, no killing people with nuclear waste and coal.”
Ald. Coleen Burrus (9th) also said Evanston has a responsibility to consider renewable energy. But like Wilson, Burrus put affordability first.
“The vast majority of the council are optimistic about the possibility,” she said. “We just need more information.”
