In the near future, DeKalb County may see wind turbines among its cornfields.

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), one of the largest generators of wind electricity in the county, is currently discussing contracts with DeKalb County landowners to get 100 wind turbines in the ground. Some landowners, mostly farmers, have already agreed to have wind turbines built on their property, said Mary Wells, community outreach spokeswoman for FPL energy.

It will still be quite some time before wind energy becomes available in DeKalb. FPL energy is only in the first stage of making DeKalb County a source for wind energy. FPL still needs to make a proposal to the DeKalb County Planning and Zoning Board.

Paul Miller, Planning and Zoning Director for DeKalb County, said he will not know exactly what FPL will do in the county until they make a proposal.

FPL typically purchases the actual wind turbines from General Electric, Wells said. If ComEd agrees to purchase the electricity produced by the wind turbines, the electricity will go directly into the local power grid where it will blend in with other power sources. The energy could also be sold to a local municipalities, local utilities or a rural collectors, Wells said.

If and when the wind turbines become a source for electricity, it is uncertain if a change in electricity prices will occur.

Wells said that it’s hard to foresee any drop in prices.

In 2003, FPL retained permits to install wind turbines in DeKalb County with little question, Wells said. FPL later withdrew their proposal because they could not negotiate a price for the wind generated electricity with ComEd. Since then, the rules about power purchases have changed, Miller said. Also in 2003, many of those who lived around the land where the wind turbines were to be installed started complaining.

Wells said the concerns often included the noise wind turbines may make and what the wind turbines will look like. While they are not completely silent, they are usually built far enough away from homes so as not to cause any disturbance, Wells said.

Larry Anderson, DeKalb County farmer and Board Member, said FPL energy offered him a long-term contract that he refused.

“I’m thinking about the future, trying to protect future generations,” Anderson said.

One of Anderson’s concerns included the gravel roads FPL energy did not agree to remove once the contract ended. The gravel roads take up space that landowners may use for farming.

Farmers that agree to the wind turbines can still farm anywhere around them, Wells said.

“A wind turbine doesn’t take up much land,” she said.

Wind turbines are typically 14 feet in diameter, and each requires a gravel road leading up to it.

FPL energy also would not reduce the 15-foot-deep foundation by 6 feet, as Anderson requested.

Anderson said he has lived his whole life in DeKalb County and knows many other farmers in the county, but hasn’t heard of any who have actually signed a contract.

FPL energy pays farmers an annual fee and a one-time amount of money for each wind turbine installed on their property. Since the price agreement is part of a private contract between the landowner and FPL, Wells could only say that FPL pays several thousand dollars a year for each wind turbine.

Wells said it is not just the landowner that benefits once the wind turbine is installed. Along with getting clean, renewable energy, the local community benefits from the taxes FPL energy pays that often go to schools, Wells said.

FPL already has 56 wind turbines in the U.S. and two in Canada.