Input sought on planned Clinton County wind farm
FRANKFORT — Planning officials in Clinton County are moving closer to securing the county’s first wind farm.
A public hearing will be held on Dec. 8 for a project proposal that would put wind turbines in much of southeastern Clinton County.
The wind farm plans are being made by AES Wind Generation LLC, a Virginia-based company that hopes to install and operate up to 200, 2.5-megawatt windmills.
The farm will cover roughly 32,000 acres in the eastern portion of the county.
“By size, it will be the largest (wind farm) project in the area,” said Mark Mills, director of the Clinton County Area Plan Commission. “We’re excited to get this application.”
Mills said the wind farm project would fit well in the area.
“Clinton County has pretty strict agricultural land preservation standards. We see wind farms as being a natural protection of agricultural land, and a resource tool from an economic standpoint,” he said.
Clinton County Commissioner Bill Beard said he’s excited about the wind farm potential.
“I’d say that has the potential to double the assessed valuation in the county, thereby reducing tax rates,” Beard said.
“It should be going in the next five years and could start as early as next year.”
Periculum Capital Co., an Indianapolis corporation that offers private placement financing services, handled negotiations for landowners involved in the planned 500-megawatt Clinton-Tipton County Windmill Project.
AES Wind Generation is a subsidiary of AES Corp., which is based in Arlington, Va., and is the owner of Indianapolis Power & Light Co.
The corporation owns and operates a worldwide portfolio of power generation and distribution businesses that have the capacity to serve 100 million people.
The power plants include technologies and fuel types that range from coal and gas to wind, hydro and biomass.
Elsewhere in Benton County, IPL is partnering with enXco, a California-based renewable energy firm that is developing the Hoosier Wind Project — a 106-megawatt wind farm project.
And officials last week celebrated the completion of phase one of the Meadow Lake Wind Farm north of West Lafayette, near Brookston in White County. The Meadow Lake Wind Farm has 121 turbines already, and the second of three phases at the site will add 66 turbines.
The farm is being developed by Horizon Wind Energy of Houston, Texas. The completed first phase is producing nearly 200 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 60,000 homes.
By Dorothy Schneider
Journal and Courier
22 November 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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