Development

Eye On Economic Development

Renewable Enerty Company Spotlight, "NextEra Energy"

Wind Link: http://www.nexteraenergyresources.com/who/index.shtml#wind
Wind Fact Sheet Link to Lee/DeKalb Project: http://www.nexteraenergyresources.com/pdf_redesign/Lee_DeKalb.pdf

FutureGen Alliance selects Morgan County, Ill. as the site for the FutureGen 2.0 carbon storage facility

The FutureGen Alliance has selected Morgan County, Ill. as the location for the FutureGen 2.0 carbon dioxide (CO2) storage site, visitor center, research, and training facilities. The FutureGen alliance said the factors that resulted in the selection of the Morgan County site are its high quality geology, which is well suited for safe and secure long-term storage of CO2, and its close proximity to the Meredosia power plant, which simplifies pipeline routing and substantially reduces the project’s overall cost.

Future Gen Website: http://www.futuregenalliance.org/
Illinois State Geological Survey Carbon Sequestration Website: http://www.sequestration.org/

Taylorville Energy Center Facility Cost Report
You can click on the following link to view the facility cost report from the Illinois Commerce Commission. Illinois' Clean Coal Portfolio Standard Law required the Illinois Commerce Commission to submit a report to the General Assembly setting forth its analysis of a Facility Cost Report filed by the initial clean coal facility in Illinois. Tenaska Taylorville, LLC, as the managing member of Christian County Generation, LLC, is responsible for preparing, completing and delivering the Facility Cost Report for the Taylorville Energy Center, Illinois' initial clean coal facility.
Click here for this report. http://www.icc.illinois..gov/electricity/tenaska.aspx <http://www..icc.illinois.gov/electricity/tenaska.aspx>

Clean Coal Illinois
This website provides quick links to learn more about the project. Clean Coal Illinois

CCEDC ANNUAL MEETING---SEPTEMBER 30TH
NOON AT TAYLORVILLE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

There are exciting things to talk about going on in Christian County and the Christian County Economic Development Corporation (CCEDC) in cooperation with the governmental entities and businesses in our communities continue promoting these projects and others of equal importance to create jobs for our area workforce.

Please join CCEDC for a luncheon on Thursday September 30, 2010 at 12 Noon in the auditorium at Taylorville Memorial Hospital to talk about economic development in Christian County.

Our program will include the following guest speakers:

*Pat Curry from the University of Illinois Extension, who will discuss economic development impact and forecasting.

*Bill Braudt, Jr. from Tenaska, who will give an overview and up–to-date status report on the Taylorville Energy Center project.

A brief question and answer period will follow each presentation.

These important and timely presentations are designed to familiarize you with CCEDC’s activities the importance of economic development planning and its practical applications.

Won’t you please join us? Christian County’s strength is in valued leaders and business people like you that over the years have provided visionary leadership. We cordially invite you to attend and participate in giving perspective to our economic future.

Please RSVP by September 23, 2010 to Mary Renner, Director of Economic Development for Christian County EDC at 638-5032 or r.consult@comcast.net <mailto:r.consult@comcast.net> .

TAYLORVILLE ENERGY CENTER
Project Link: http://www.cleancoalillinois.com/tec.html

This project is being coordinated by Tenaska Energy. You can visit Tenaska’s Main Website at http://www.tenaska.com/.

Former Taylorville City Councilman Jack Brown is Tenaska’s community representative for the Taylorville Energy Center. He is located at 215 S.. Washington St., just south of the Taylorville town square.

Brown and the Taylorville square office will help provide Taylorville and Christian County residents easy access to information about TEC. Brown may be reached at (217) 824-8873, by e-mail at jhbrown@tenaska.com or through http://www.cleancoalillinois.com .

Christian County Farm Bureau® Cap & Trade Briefing

By: Pat Wolf, CCFB Secretary

The term “Cap and Trade” refers to the government setting a “cap” or an upper limit on the amount of a pollutant (i.e. carbon dioxide) a company may emit. Companies are issued emission permits and required to hold an equivalent number of allowances or credits which represent the right to emit a specific amount of a specific pollutant. Companies that need to increase their emission allowance must buy credits from other companies with allowances in excess of their needs or from agricultural sources which have sequestered carbon as the result of certain management practices;

H.R. 2454 has been passed in the U.S. House and companion legislation is now being developed in the U.S. Senate. The American Farm Bureau and IL Farm Bureau do not support the bill as reported out of the House citing increased cost to agricultural producers and no overall effect on reducing carbon in the atmosphere unless other countries like China, India, etc. adapt similar requirements. However, the Wheat Growers Association have stated their support. USDA has spoken in support of this bill stating the value of credits sold by agricultural producers will offset the increased costs associated with increased fuel, fertilizer, and other production costs (they use $16/metric ton as the value of sequestered carbon in their analysis);

- Information regarding carbon credit trading can be found at:

o www.chicagoclimatex.com

o www.illinoisclimate.org

Agricultural carbon credits currently being traded in IL:

o Illinois Conservation and Climate Initiative (ICCI) , a partnership between the State of IL and the Delta Initiate, provides the program which allows farmers to earn greenhouse gas emission credits and market them within the state of IL; the Delta Initiate serves as the aggregator of carbon credits from individual producers; the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) serves as the trading exchange for all six greenhouse gasses; and Soil & Water Conservation Districts (SWCD’s) perform annual contract verification;

o Contracts traded are 100 metric ton and 4 years in length;

o Price/ton is determined daily at the Chicago Climate Exchange through electronic trading with prices currently in the range of .45 to .50/metric ton (5/21/08 $7.30/ton);

o Types of agricultural practices being traded and the amount of carbon being credited with sequestering carbon:

§ Grass 1.0 metric ton/ac/year

§ Trees depends on species grown and size of tree, but for example:

Oak/Hickory 1-5” diameter 1.089 metric ton/ac/year

· Oak/Hickory 26-30”diameter 1.916 metric ton/ac/year

§ Conservation Farming (No-Till & Strip-Till) .6 metric ton/ac/year

o Contracts traded include: (1) .20/ton fee by CCX, (2) 8% aggregation fee by ICCI, (3) 20% reserve pool of total carbon credits cannot be paid for until the end of the contract period when all terms of the contract have been completed, and (4) an unstated cost of annual verification by the SWCD which must be paid by the seller;

o Methane digesters are also eligible for participation;

Iroquois County currently has the highest rate of participation in IL in this trading program with 89 contracts involving 10,820 acres. Christian County currently has 7 contracts involving 637 acres (392 acres of trees and 245 acres of grass);

EPA cites current cap and trade programs involving Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) formerly referred to as Acid Rain Program as a successful example of how this program can work;

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Eye on Economic Development

Many economic development projects are surfacing each day in Central Illinois. This link is a resource for you to follow developments that may affect your farm operation. As CCFB learns of new Christian County and Central Illinois projects, we will add information that will be important to you.

Christian County Economic Development Corporation

http://www.christiancountyedc.com/

Taylorville Industrial Park

http://www.christiancountyedc.com/business_taylorville.htm

Pana Industrial Park

http://www.christiancountyedc.com/business_pana.htm

Taylorville Energy Center

http://www.tenaska.com/userfiles/File/Taylorville%20Fact%20Sheet(1).pdf

Tenaska Energy

http://www.tenaska.com/

Peabody Energy

http://www.peabodyenergy.com/

Peabody Energy [Prairie State Energy Campus]

http://www.peabodyenergy.com/Operations/prairiestate.asp

Buckley Growers of Illinois

http://www.hmbuckley-il.com

GSI

http://www.grainsystems.com/

Illinois EPA-Alternative Fuels Link

http://www.epa.state.il.us/agriculture/alternative-fuels.html

WIND ENERGY

In 2005, wind machines in the United States generated a total of 17.8 billion kWh per year of electricity, enough to serve more than 1.6 million households. This is enough electricity to power a city the size of Chicago, but it is only a small fraction of the nation's total electricity production, about 0.4 percent. The amount of electricity generated from wind has been growing fast in recent years, tripling since 1998.

New technologies have decreased the cost of producing electricity from wind, and growth in wind power has been encouraged by tax breaks for renewable energy and green programs. Many utilities around the country offer green pricing options that allow customers the choice to pay more for electricity that comes from renewable sources.

Wind machines generate electricity in 25 different states in 2005. The states with the most wind production are California, Texas, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Oklahoma.

The United States ranks third in the world in wind power capacity, behind Germany and Spain and before India. Denmark ranks number five in the world in wind power capacity but generates 20 percent of its electricity from wind. Most of the wind power plants in the world are located in Europe and in the United States where government programs have helped support wind power development.

Source: Energy Information Administration- http://www.eia.doe.gov

WIND ENERGY LINKS

Illinois Wind

http://www.illinoiswind.org

Illinois Wind Resource Map

http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/windpoweringamerica/where_is_wind_illinois.asp

America Wind Energy Association

http://www.awea.org

Small Wind Project Check-Points

http://www.awea.org/smallwind/toolbox/default.asp