Residents in the US state of Illinois are calling on their local authority to refuse a wind power operator permission to put up a standby letter of credit (L/C).

The operator, Ever Power, wants to use the L/C to guarantee that Bureau County has sufficient funds dismantle the wind farm if required.

L/C guarantee

Ever Power wants to put up the L/C as a guarantee that it will discharge its obligations in respect of the Big Sky wind farm.

The original operators arranged to set aside US$1.8 million in an escrow account, in case the company abandoned the project and the county needed to take down the turbines.

Acquisition

Ever Power has recently acquired the Big Sky wind farm from Edison Mission Energy and the new operator is lobbying to replace the escrow account with an L/C guarantee.

But Bureau County residents have told media that they would prefer the US$1.8 million remains in an escrow account.

Objections

One resident said an L/C "is only as good as the paper it's written on...what's to say the bank won't go belly up?"

Another agreed. "If the [wind] companies go bankrupt, as many of them do, the L/Cs are worthless. Cash escrow is definitely better," he said.

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