Mammoth wind Farm Proposed in Iowa
- From: "California Poppy" <GoldenStatePoppy@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 31 Aug 2006 07:58:15 -0700
Mammoth $200M wind farm proposed in Iowa
Reuters, Thu Aug 31, 7:34 AM ET
Northern Iowa could have one of the nation's largest wind farms by
2008. Iowa Winds LLC wants to build a 200- to 300-megawatt farm
covering about 40,000 acres in Franklin County.
A county zoning board will consider approving permits for the $200
million project next month.
"It's something new and renewable," said Amber Schwarck, a spokeswoman
for the Iowa Falls-based company. "It's great for national security, so
we can start depending on ourselves and the wind."
Iowa ranks third in the nation in wind energy behind Texas and
California, according to the American Wind Energy Association. The
Franklin County Wind Farm would help Iowa keep pace with those states
and create 30 to 40 technical jobs maintaining turbines, said Schwarck.
A pay scale was unavailable.
Company officials said the farm could be the nation's largest -
depending on the permits and the county's power grid infrastructure.
The project would be built near Bradford and involve 193 landowners in
the townships of Grant, Hamilton, Ingham, Lee, Morgan, Oakland and
Reeves.
If the county approves the project, construction would start next
spring and take about a year, said Franklin County Supervisor Michael
Nolte.
"It's not very often you have someone who wants to make a $200 million
investment in the county," he said. "That's a huge investment. It's
just a win-win for the county."
Schwarck said Iowa Winds has conducted meteorological studies in
southern Franklin County since the company was formed in 2002. The
project would be its first wind farm.
Iowa has nearly 900 wind turbines capable of producing 836 megawatts of
electricity, enough to power about 226,000 average homes, according to
the American Wind Energy Association. Planned projects - besides the
Franklin County farm - would add 120 turbines capable of generating
an additional 249 megawatts of electricity, the group said.
Texas leads the nation with 2,400 megawatts of wind energy installed
and California has 2,323 megawatts.
.
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