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2 firms break ground for wind farms in NW Indiana

By LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent

CHALMERS, Ind. — Benton and White counties are two of the windiest in Indiana, but their residents are not likely to complain about the weather. The groundbreaking ceremonies for two new wind farms last week served as a reminder that the ever-blowing breeze is bringing jobs, tax money and clean energy to the area.

“This is an exciting day for White County,” John Heimlich, county commissioner, told a crowd of nearly 200 people during the groundbreaking ceremony for Horizon Wind Energy’s Meadow Lake Wind Farm on April 14. “The U.S. is on the edge of an alternative energy revolution and we believe we can not only be a part of that revolution, but be a leader. Today represents a step in that direction.”

The first phase of Meadow Lake Wind Farm will include the construction of 121 turbines with a combined capacity of 200 megawatts per year – or enough energy to power 60,000 average Indiana homes – and is scheduled to be completed Oct. 31. Houston, Texas-based Horizon is already working on expanding the site and company officials believe the wind farm could reach a capacity of 1,000 megawatts within a few years.

“This is going to be one of the largest wind farms in North America when it’s completed,” said Jerry Thompson, who hosted the groundbreaking ceremony at his farm near the center of the new wind development.

Thompson was part of a landowner committee that negotiated the 30-year leases with Horizon, and said most local farmers are supportive of the project. The payments landowners receive from the wind developer are based on several factors, including how many towers are built on the leased land and whether feeder lines are buried on the property.

“It’s been received very well. All the meetings Horizon held always had a good turnout,” Thompson said. “The only drawback is right now, during the construction phase. They have to go out there in any weather and it hurts a farmer to see a Caterpillar go out in the wet fields like this.”

Ken Ripper, Horizon’s chief technology officer, said the company has gone to great lengths to build partnerships with the affected landowners. “Farmers are very concerned about damage to their tile systems, and let me tell you that if we break any of them, we’ll fix them,” he said.

The initial phase of Meadow Lake Wind Farm spans 26,000 acres, but the company pointed out only 250 acres will be taken out of production to make way for turbines, access roads, an operations facility and a substation. About 400 temporary jobs will be created during the construction phase and according to the subcontractor, Indianapolis-based Bowen Engineering Corp., 75 percent of the positions will be filled by local union trades.

Just three days after government and company officials dug the first symbolic hole for the Meadow Lake Wind Farm, wind developer enXco broke ground on a 106-megawatt project near Fowler in Benton County. EnXco, a subsidiary of EdF Energies Nouvelles, plans to erect 53 wind turbines at the site and bring them online by the end of the year.

Dubbed the Hoosier Wind Project, the development will create 200 jobs during the construction phase and 12 permanent full-time jobs when operational, according to Steve Peluso, director of enXco’s Midwest region.

The Hoosier Wind Project will be enXco’s first wind development in Indiana, but the company already operates and maintains Indiana’s first wind development, Orion Energy Group’s Benton County Wind Farm. Indianapolis Power and Light Co. has agreed to purchase electricity generated from the site.

“We develop projects in anticipation of demand from utilities, and right now utilities are increasingly interested in adding renewable energy to their portfolios,” said Peluso. “They are anticipating things like carbon taxes and offsetting emissions.”

Assuming the two new wind farms will be completed on time, Indiana will have 836 megawatts of wind power capacity by the end of 2009. That includes the existing 130-megawatt Benton County Wind Farm and the 400-megawatt Fowler Ridge Wind Farm, which came online last week.

4/22/2009