Land owners are receptive, it's windy enough and there are existing electric-transmission lines.

In a secret-ballot vote, a group of several dozen land owners overwhelmingly chose Horizon Wind Energy to develop a 100 megawatt to 200 MW wind farm south of Winchester, said Randolph County Farm Bureau President Tom Chalfant.

"We essentially have the ingredients to put together a project," said Martin Culik, a project manager for Horizon. "We are real pleased that Randolph County farmers and land owners have selected us as their preferred developer. Community reaction is very important. We're just thrilled to see the community reaction."

The project was revealed on Wednesday during Ag Days at the Randolph County Fairgrounds.

Horizon, owned by a Portuguese company, recently finished the 400 MW Twin Groves Wind Farm near Bloomington, Ill., at a cost of $750 million, Culik said. It's the largest wind farm east of the Mississippi River. Horizon is now developing the 600 MW to 1,000 MW Meadow Lake Wind Farm in Benton and White counties north and west of Lafayette.

The wind farm here would be built somewhere within 60,000 acres south of Winchester between Modoc (Ind. 1) and Lynn (U.S. 27) and as far south as the Wayne County line. Horizon expects the project to include 50 to 100 or more wind turbines, each standing 260 feet or so tall, in addition to the 130-feet-long blades that extend the height of the structure to nearly 400 feet.

Each land owner would receive $7,000 to $9,000 in lease payments annually for each turbine. That's $350,000 to $900,000 in total annual lease payments to local property owners, depending on the number of turbines and the amount of the payments.

In addition, Horizon pays the owners of land located between the wind turbines.

"All land owners, whether they have a turbine or not, get a base payment, and people with turbines get additional payments," Culik said. When he said "all land owners," he meant those near a turbine, usually within a quarter of a mile. "Even that is pretty generous," he said. "This is a hallmark of Horizon's work and why they selected us."