October 8, 2011
Ohio
Ohio
Facts about Ohio’s new wind farms
www.ohio.com 8 October 2011
What: Ohio’s largest wind farm, with 152 turbines, 122 completed; construction continues on the rest.
Where: Spanning 27,000 leased acres or 80 square miles in Van Wert and Paulding counties in Northwest Ohio on Indiana border.
Output: 304 megawatts, or enough to power 76,000 homes annually. Each tower produces 2 megawatts, or 2,700 horsepower; enough to power 500 average Ohio homes.
Winds required: 8 to 9 miles per hour to begin electric production, maximum efficiency 28 miles per hour. System shuts down at 55 miles per hour.
Project cost: $600 million.
Owner: Oregon-based Iberdrola Renewables, U.S. division of Iberdrola SA of Spain, the world’s fourth-largest utility company. As of midsummer, Iberdrola S.A. generated more than 12,700 megawatts of renewable energy in 23 countries. Entered the United States in 2006 and has 2,500 turbines at 47 projects in 17 states generating about 4,800 megawatts.
Environmental impact: Eliminates carbon dioxide emissions by 1.3 billion pounds a year that otherwise would be produced by the burning of coal for equivalent power. Also equals emissions from burning 2.1 million barrels of oil and 114,000 vehicles or planting of 525,000 acres of trees to absorb the carbon dioxide.
Construction details: Gamesa Energy G90 turbines, made at two plants in Pennsylvania. Main tower, 285 tons; bus-sized nacelle that houses equipment atop the tower, 82.5 tons; hub that holds the blades, 24.5 tons; each fiberglass blade, 6.5 tons.
The blades when spinning cover 1.6 acres of space.
Six acres of space required for construction; final foundation and access road require three-fourths of an acre. Foundation required 60 truckloads of concrete and 28 tons of steel rebar.
Other Iberdrola interests in Ohio: Part owner of a proposed 75-turbine project in Putnam County that would produce 150 megawatts, and two others in the Van Wert-Paulding area, the 150-turbine Dog Creek and 100-turbine Prairie Creek projects, which would generate an additional 500 megawatts.
Timber Road Wind Farm
What: 55 turbines completed and operational this summer. Additional 58 turbines planned and more under consideration.
Where: Paulding County, with expansion into Van Wert.
Output: Up to 99 megawatts. Next phase would generate another 100 megawatts.
Owner: Horizon Wind Energy of Houston, which is controlled by EDP Group of Portugal, one of Europe’s largest energy companies.
About the area
Van Wert County: 28,744 residents, 11,565 households, 2,192 farms, 410 square miles.
Paulding County: 19,614 residents, 7,752 households, 1,612 farms, 416 square miles.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/10/08/facts-about-ohios-new-wind-farms/