Construction on the northern portion of the Railsplitter Wind Farm has begun in Tazewell County.

John Fulton, Horizon's project manager for this phase of the construction, said it will be "weeks and months" before the effort is completed.

Fulton said the work is beginning near the intersection of Interstate 155 and Illinois Route 122, also known as Market Road. The exit, which leads west into Delavan, is currently closed to accommodate the construction.

"We're taking the crest off of a hill and making the road better," said Fulton. "It will be used for big long trucks that need low ground clearance."

Fulton said several earth movers are gathering at the site and that gigantic cranes, used to erect the towers, are not needed during this phase of the project.

"Our focus now is on public roads," said Fulton. "After that, we turn our attention to access roads, before developing the turbine sites.

"(When that's completed), we will turn our attention to turbine foundation."

Another project manager, Bill Whitlock, in an earlier interview said Horizon's intent was to start the northwest section of the wind farm in Tazewell County and work its way down south.

"There will be a lot of public road upgrades," said Whitlock. "We'll be strengthening the roads, then widening them to put in the private access roads."

Each turbine will have a private access road cutting through farm fields and leading back to the turbine.

Following the road upgrades, Horizon will begin excavating foundations and placing reinforcement cages for the concrete, which will act as the foundation. The concrete will need to cure before turbine construction actually begins

Large cranes will then be placed strategically around the turbine areas, so they can simply turn to place structures on the foundation without constantly having to maneuver to different locations.

A lot of work will also begin taking place on the turbine substations. Underground cables and overhead transmission lines will need to be established.

"Typically, the entire process takes between 9 and 12 months," said Whitlock.

In Logan County, not only is Horizon waiting opposition group Union Ridge Wind's appeals deadline, the company is also in the process of satisfying a number of conditions to obtain a building permit in Logan County.

Most of these conditions, said Logan County Engineer Brett Aukamp, involve studies by the Environmental Protection Agency.

In a recent planning and zoning committee meeting, county zoning officer Will D'Andrea explained the difference between receiving a conditional use permit and approving the application with conditions.

The county board granted Horizon the conditional use permit in July.
"If you approve the application, you are entitled to come to the (zoning) office, and building permits are issued, and they are allowed to start construction," D'Andrea told the committee. "In this case, we approved it with 18 or 19 different conditions ... most of the conditions related to specific approval criteria.

"For example, one of them is that they need to provide a de-commissioning plan, so if a product is no longer in use, or they go bankrupt or something, we have provisions in place where we can dismantle all of those towers that are sitting out there."

D'Andrea said, in theory, if Horizon never furnishes the county a de-commissioning plan, then permit approval is never final. All conditions need to be satisfied in both Aukamp's and D'Andrea's offices. If even one of those conditions is not satisfied, permits won't be issued.

Once all conditions are satisfied, the approval is then considered final, and Horizon has permission to come in and start building.