September 24, 2008 – New Wind Farm in Neighborhood
About 20 miles form us a 150 MW wind farm is being constructed. It is about halfway between our farm and Ames. It will contain 100 towers when completed and power 30,000 homes.
I liked this shot of the the old and new – the Sherman County one-room school house and a few of the new turbines.
These machines are massive next to ours – the towers are 260 feet tall and each blade is 125 feet long (compared to our 70 foot tower). The generator weighs 100,000 pounds. The interesting thing about this wind farm located in the middle of Iowa is that it is constructed and owned by Florida Light and Power! From what I’ve read, the construction costs are about equal to a coal power plant, but once they are up, no charge for fuel for the lifetime of the turbines.
3 Responses to “September 24, 2008 – New Wind Farm in Neighborhood”
George Handy says:
October 3, 2008 at 10:10 am
I see the trucks on the Interstate hauling the turbine blades and I’m always amazed by the size of them.
Jack says:
October 3, 2008 at 6:26 pm
The energy companies are constantly selling each other their “extra” electricity. On a tour of a local coal plant, the tour guide stated that a trader working for Xcel in Minneapolis could bring in a million dollars a day in profit trading energy to other companies and regions. A lot of electricity generated in the midwest is sold to the western United States. I, too, am surprised that it is Florida Light and Power that owns that, though. I would have expected Xcel or even a California company.
Sandra says:
October 6, 2008 at 8:44 am
The boys and I recently drove out to see these up close and I was sad I didn’t have my camera with me. I suppose they’ve been going up for a while now, but it was only in the last couple weeks that I noticed them on the horizon while driving NW of State Center. Now I realize you can see them from HWY 30 too, and probably from the top of our silo if it was safe enough to climb.