Wind power in Iowa

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Hancock County Wind Energy Center in Hancock County, Iowa, with 148 Vestas V47-660kW wind turbines for a total nameplate capacity of 97.68 MW. Half of the wind turbines are southwest of Klemme and the other half are south-southeast of Duncan. Florida Power & Light owns the wind farm, which began operating in 2002.

The boom in U.S. wind power capacity is being met with increased investment in wind power manufacturing facilities in the heart of the country. States with most wind capacity installed are: ^[1]

• Texas (3,352 MW)
• California (2,376 MW)
• Iowa (967 MW)
• Minnesota (897 MW)
• Washington (818 MW)

Iowa and Minnesota look likely to rise above 1,000 MW in 2007.^[2]

In late September 2007, Siemens Power Generation celebrated the grand opening of its new wind turbine blade factory in Fort Madison, Iowa, on the banks of the Mississippi River. The 311,000-square-foot (28,900 m²) factory is expected to produce 600 wind turbine blades each year and should employ 260 people by year's end. The facility manufactures 148-foot-long, 12-ton blades for the company's 2.3-MW wind turbines installed in the United States. In October, Iowa Governor Chet Culver announced that Hendricks Industries plans to build a manufacturing plant for wind turbine towers in Keokuk, which is also on the Mississippi River. The 347,000-square-foot (32,200 m²) facility will employ 350 people, and the company will also employ 22 people at a project to expand the city's port.

Also in October, LM Glasfiber broke ground on a new wind turbine blade manufacturing plant in Little Rock, Arkansas, which is on the Arkansas River. The new facility is expected to begin operations in early 2008 and will eventually employ more than 1,000 people.

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wind power in Iowa

• List of wind farms in the United States

[edit] References

1. ^ Oil Rich Texas Number One in Wind Power
2. ^ Annual U.S. Wind Power Rankings Track Industry's Rapid Growth