Wind Energy Leasing in McLean County, Illinois

What's already built

Twin Groves Wind Farm sits in McLean County near the villages of Arrowsmith, Saybrook, and Ellsworth -- 240 turbines spread across roughly 46,000 acres, stretching 12 miles from east to west, with a combined capacity of 398 MW, enough to power an estimated 120,000 homes according to Center for Rural Affairs reporting. Construction ran from 2007 to February 2008, and on completion Twin Groves was the largest utility-scale wind farm east of the Mississippi River -- a genuinely significant regional milestone at the time, not just a large local project.

That 46,000-acre footprint means a meaningful share of the farmland in the eastern part of McLean County likely sits under a recorded wind lease or easement covering turbine pads, access roads, and underground collector lines, even in areas where the surface still looks and farms like ordinary cropland. If you're buying land in or near Arrowsmith, Saybrook, or Ellsworth, pull the parcel's recorded documents at the McLean County Recording Division and ask specifically whether a wind lease, easement, or collector-line agreement is recorded against it -- these don't always surface in a standard title-search summary.

Two similarly-mentioned wind farms that are NOT in McLean County

A general search for Illinois wind farms near McLean County often surfaces two other large, well-known projects: Pioneer Trail Wind Farm (94 turbines, 150.4 MW, established 2011) and California Ridge Wind Farm (134 turbines, 217 MW, completed December 2012). Neither is in McLean County. Pioneer Trail is located in Ford and Iroquois Counties, and California Ridge is located in Champaign and Vermilion Counties -- both real Illinois projects, just not on McLean County land.

If a lease offer, listing, or news article references either project in connection with McLean County land, treat that as worth double-checking directly with the McLean County Department of Building and Zoning before relying on it.

The state law limiting what McLean County can require

Illinois counties don't have unlimited authority to write their own wind and solar rules. Public Act 102-1123, signed by Governor Pritzker on January 27, 2023, amended 55 ILCS 5/5-12020 of the Counties Code to establish statewide siting standards for commercial wind and solar facilities -- covering setbacks, turbine height, decommissioning, and treatment of agricultural land -- and bars counties from imposing outright moratoriums on wind or solar development. One community solar project reviewed by McLean County was reported to comply with a 50-foot setback from property lines and a 150-foot setback from any residence not part of the special use -- an example of the statewide floor in practice, though this shouldn't be assumed to be the county's universal standard for every project type. We were not able to independently confirm McLean County's own exact current wind setback distance or decommissioning-bond formula during this research pass, since direct access to the county's own site was blocked. Confirm current, specific ordinance language directly with the Department of Building and Zoning before relying on any particular figure.

If you've been offered a lease, or are buying land already under one

If you're the landowner being approached about a new lease: understand that McLean County's ordinance (bounded by the PA 102-1123 statewide ceiling) sets the regulatory floor on setbacks and decommissioning, not the lease's financial terms. Payment structure and escalation, term length and renewal options, easement scope (turbine pads only, or also access roads and collector-line corridors), and who bears decommissioning cost if the developer becomes insolvent are all matters of private contract -- review by an attorney experienced in Illinois wind leases is worth the cost before signing, especially given how long these leases typically run and how long Twin Groves has already been operating.

If you're buying land already subject to a recorded wind lease or easement tied to Twin Groves, pull the actual recorded document from the McLean County Recording Division rather than relying on a listing summary. Confirm what portion of the parcel is actually restricted, whether the lease/easement transfers automatically to you as the new owner (most wind leases run with the land), what ongoing payments (if any) you'd be entitled to, and whether financial security for eventual decommissioning is on file for the project -- worth asking about directly given that Twin Groves has now been operating for well over 15 years.