"See the cement trucks come in, the towers come in and the towers erected. It was just phenomenal," Lena Resident Michael Thill said.

A phenomenal experience for Thill, capped off Friday with the opening ceremony for the EcoGrove wind farm, just a half mile from his home.

"My wife and I are very excited about this. It's going to put Lena on the map," Thill said.

"It's a number of years to get to this stage and it is a day to celebrate," said Peter Duprey, CEO of Acciona Energy.

A celebration three years in the making, now spinning into reality for this quiet corner of Stephenson County.

The wind farm spans some 7,000 acres just west of Lena. And from this nearby hill, you get a clear view of how vast this project is.

67 wind turbines dot the landscape, each 240 feet tall. The wind farm will generate power for more than 25,000 homes, locally and beyond.

"Thing about power is it can be moved very easily, so it can be shipped from Illinois to Pennsylvania," Duprey said.

Stephenson county leaders now look forward to more growth like this.

"There's the possibility of locating manufacturing and production plants of the components here in the area," County Board President John Blum said.

Thill sees benefits too. And a clear return on investment for his family, that's leasing six acres of land to Acciona.

"The wind always blows out there and it's free," Thill said.

The Chicago-based Acciona Energy hired ten service technicians for this windfarm, nine of them are from the Stateline area. About 125 jobs came with the project's construction.

If you're interested in checking the site out, Acciona Energy is hosting public tours tomorrow from 10 a-m to 3 p-m. The address to meet is 9370 N. Baker Road in Lena.