Hoosier Wind Farm is a
wind farm
A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...
in
Benton County,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
. It consists of 53
REpower
Senvion S.A. (called REpower Systems SE until 2014) was a German wind turbine manufacturer founded in 2001 in Germany, majority owned by a private equity firm.
Senvion as REpower Systems, as it was initially called, was established in 2001 th ...
2
MW wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...
s, for a total
nameplate capacity
Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, or maximum effect, is the intended full-load sustained output of a facility such as a power station, of 106 MW.
The enXco subsidiary of
EDF Energies Nouvelles
EDF Renewables (formerly ''EDF Renouvelables'') is a wholly owned subsidiary of the French utility EDF Group, specializing in renewable energy production. As an integrated operator, the Group develops and finances the construction of renewable en ...
built the wind farm, with
Mortenson Construction's Renewable Energy Group as the subcontractor.
Indianapolis Power & Light
AES Indiana, formerly known as Indianapolis Power & Light Company (also known as IPL or IPALCO), is an American utility company providing electric service to the city of Indianapolis. It is a subsidiary and largest utility of AES Corporation, whi ...
(IPL) has a 20-year contract to purchase and distribute the wind farm's output.
History
IPL and enXco announced their plan to build the wind farm in April, 2008.
The original plan called for 67
GE 1.5 MW wind turbines.
By the time construction started in April 2009, the plan had changed to use REpower 2.0 MW wind turbines instead, with 80m towers.
At the time of construction, Hoosier was only the third wind farm in the United States to use REpower wind turbines, after
Goodnoe Hills Wind Farm in
Goldendale, Washington
Goldendale is a city and county seat of Klickitat County, Washington, United States, near the Columbia River Gorge. The population within city limits was 3,760 at the 2000 census and 3,407 at the 2010 census, a 9.4% decrease. It is situated in ...
, and
Shiloh Wind Farm Phase II in
Birds Landing, California
Birds Landing (also Bird's Landing) is an unincorporated community in southern Solano County, California, United States. It lies at the intersection of Collinsville and Montezuma Hills Roads, southeast of the city of Fairfield, the county seat ...
(also constructed by enXco and Mortenson).
Construction took six months.
The groundbreaking ceremony on April 17, 2009, included Indiana Lt. Governor
Becky Skillman
Rebecca S. Skillman (born September 26, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 49th Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, from 2005 to 2013. She is a member of the Republican Party.
Early life and career
Skillman is a native of Bedford, ...
and other government and industry officials.
Environmental impact
IPL expects Hoosier to generate enough power for 29,000 homes and reduce
carbon dioxide emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...
by 348,000 tons per year.
This is equivalent to the annual emissions from 58,000 cars.
See also
*
Benton County Wind Farm
The Benton County Wind Farm (also called Goodland I) consists of 87 model sl/sle Gen4 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines near Earl Park, Indiana in northern Benton County, Indiana. The farm's nameplate capacity is 130.5 MW. The farm was developed by Orion ...
*
Fowler Ridge Wind Farm
The Fowler Ridge Wind Farm is a wind farm in Benton County, Indiana, near the city of Fowler, IN about northwest of Lafayette and northwest of Indianapolis. Fowler Ridge was originally developed in 2005 and 2006 by Orion Energy, LLC (Oakland, ...
*
Meadow Lake Wind Farm
Meadow Lake Wind Farm is an 801.25 megawatt (MW) wind farm near Brookston and Chalmers, Indiana, spreading over portions of White, Jasper, and Benton Counties. It is owned and operated by EDP Renewables North America. The facility c ...
*
Wind power in Indiana
Wind power in Indiana was limited to a few small water-pumping windmills on farms until 2008 with construction of Indiana's first utility-scale wind power facility, Goodland (phase I) with a nameplate capacity of 130 MW. As of September 2017, I ...
References
External links
enXco Announces Commercial Operation of 106 MW Hoosier Wind Project
{{Wind power in the United States
Energy infrastructure completed in 2009
Buildings and structures in Benton County, Indiana
Wind farms in Indiana