Inside Illinois published an article about power production from wind turbines on campus: "Campus moves toward supplementing power with wind turbines" -- https://web.archive.org/web/20101204131410/http://news.illinois.edu/ii/0...

In July 2005, the University's Facilities and Services division filed a $2 million grant request for the installation of three wind turbines at the South Farms location.

South Farms were selected as the location for the wind farm. This selection was based on several factors because the wind farm had to be at least 20,000 feet away from the nearest airport (Willard Airport). Other reasons included noise impacts, shadow flicker effect to the nearest houses, and being away from the campus, etc.

Facilities and Services at the U of I was considering the installation of one to three wind turbine generators at the South Farms, which would help augment power generated by Abbott Power Plant.

Last week of June 2005, the proposed site for the wind farm project was informally presented by the UI liaison to the officials with the cities of Champaign and Urbana, the village of Savoy, and the Champaign county. However, the city representatives expressed a few initial concerns regarding the proposed site for the turbines.

In June 2005, Navigant Consulting Inc was hired by the University of Illinois to do a feasibility study, which would include

• a wind turbine-generator fatal flaw analysis for setting up to four wind turbine-generators on the property owned by UIUC in the South Farms area.
• To develop a preliminary economic analysis of the wind turbine-generator bus-bar electric costs.
• Results of the study will be used by UIUC to prepare an application to the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation

By the end of the Spring-2005 semester, $300,000 was accumulated and set aside for the wind energy project on campus by the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC).

In May 2005, the University of Illinois received the funding proposal from the Navigant Consulting Inc for the feasibility study of the wind farm and wind energy project.

In January 2005, the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) for Sustainable Campus Environment announced the wind turbine project for the installation of three wind turbines on the university campus.

In June of 2003, University of Illinois became the first university in the state of Illinois to implement a student fee to support renewable energy projects when the UI Board of Trustees approved the student committee's proposal of $2-per-semester fee for clean energy projects. It was expected to generate $140,000-$160,000 per year, depending on student enrollment, which could be used as the seed money for the wind energy project. The funds would be allocated through a new committee called the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC).

In the spring of 2003, the idea of Wind energy was proposed by the Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS). Many colleges and universities in the recent years have shown interest in renewable energies and installing wind turbines for even small amount of wind energy would be a great gesture on the university's part to achieve sustainable renewable energy.

In a referendum on 5th of March, 2003, the student body voted for a $2-per-semester fee to fund renewable energy projects and technologies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They agreed on implementing this $2-per-semester fee hike in the Fall-2004 session. The accumulated funds could be used as the seed money for the wind turbine project.

Cardboard recycling appears to have started in July 1988