PAXTON — E.On Climate & Renewables, a Chicago-based firm that plans to start building its Pioneer Trail Wind Farm near Paxton this summer, has agreed to sell some of the renewable energy produced by the wind farm's 94 turbines to a consortium of 21 electric-distribution cooperatives in Illinois.

The deal announced last week calls for E.On to sell energy from the wind farm to three Midwest electric-generation and transmission cooperatives, which together supply wholesale electricity to 21 of the 25 electric-distribution cooperatives in Illinois, including Paxton-based Eastern Illini Electric Cooperative.

Eastern Illini's power supplier — Prairie Power Inc. — teamed up with the Southern Illinois Power Cooperative and Wabash Valley Power Association in agreeing to buy up to 40 megawatts of energy per year from the 150-megawatt wind farm.

Under the 18-year contract, Prairie Power would buy up to 20 megawatts a year; Southern Illinois Power Co-op and Wabash Valley would buy up to 10 megawatts each. The co-ops and their 540,000 members in Illinois should start receiving renewable energy by the end of 2012.

"The members of Illinois cooperatives are going to be spending about $100 million over 18 years here on the procurement of this renewable energy, and I think that's something I hope all our members are very, very proud of," Jay Bartlett, CEO and president of Prairie Power, said at last week's news conference in Paxton.

Dave Champion, CEO and president of Eastern Illini, said the renewable energy bought by the co-ops would help prevent 316,000 tons of carbon emissions annually — which not only helps the environment but also helps the utilities meet increasingly demanding regulatory standards.

By using more renewable energy, Prairie Power officials hope to be able to retire a 22-megawatt coal power plant in western Illinois in the next two years. Prairie Power hopes to replace that plant with a bio-mass plant, Bartlett said.

E.On's chief executive officer, Steve Trenholm, said executing the contract fits E.On's goal to "become part of the community."

Trenholm said the 12,000-acre wind farm, proposed for Patton and Button townships in Ford County and Loda and Pigeon Grove townships in Iroquois County, is ready to be constructed this summer. With permitting having been complete, E.On is now working to get roads prepared for heavy machinery and getting construction crews lined up.

Trenholm said, optimistically, that he wants to have all the turbines erected by the end of the year, prior to the winter freeze, even though his firm has indicated a fall 2012 completion date.