SAYBROOK, Ill. (WMBD) — On May 16, the McLean County Board authorised an utility for a photo voltaic power undertaking. The Earthrise Energy undertaking will use 1,365 hectares of land within the japanese a part of the county.
This yr, farmer George Jones is farming his thirty eighth crop. Last yr, he farmed about 2,500 hectares of land. Because of the photo voltaic power undertaking, he misplaced 360 hectares of farmland. But Jones sees a silver lining.
“I’m a giant believer that we have to scale back our use of fossil fuels as a lot as we will. A giant a part of that’s photo voltaic and wind. Of course, it isn’t all of it by any stretch of the creativeness, but it surely’s a giant half. We have lots of windmills on this space and I believe the photo voltaic farm is the subsequent stage that should come to assist that.”
Jones believes the photo voltaic power undertaking shall be good for the neighborhood.
“I believe the photo voltaic farm for us goes to be nice. It’s going to deliver jobs. It’s going to deliver tax {dollars} for our native colleges. It’s going to be a plus for the neighborhood,” Jones mentioned. will take some farms. But in the long term, I believe the professionals outweigh the cons.
Jones mentioned he’ll plant clover, a canopy crop to assist with wind and water erosion.