June 24, 2016
Iowa

Wind Farm proposed in Cherokee County

By Dan Whitney | Cherokee Chronicle Times | June 24, 2016 | www.chronicletimes.com

At Tuesday morning’s weekly meeting of the Cherokee County Supervisors, representatives from EDF Renewable Energy were present to advise the Board of a project of theirs in Cherokee County which is in the developmental stage.

The project is a wind farm near the city of Marcus, expected to have approximately 100 turbines, each one expected to have around two megawatts of power, for a total of roughly 200 megawatts for the entire project. These figures are rough estimates, because the project is in the developmental stage at this point, and many details have to be finalized, including procuring access to land, dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s on contracts and other paperwork, and so on. EDF is seeking to build a project at the proposed location because the area is an “excellent wind resource,” and there is also access to existing available transmission operations, meaning that no additional overhead transmission lines would be need to be constructed. EDF stated that the response they have gotten from landowners in the proposed area of construction and from the city of Marcus has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

EDF is an Independent Power Producer. It is one of the largest utility companies in the world, with US headquarters in San Diego, California . The company has built many wind farms, including one in Pocahontas County.

EDF said that they were not seeking anything from the Cherokee County Supervisors at Monday’s meeting, they just wanted to inform them of their plans. If everything goes as hoped, EDF hopes to have the project operational by 2018 or 2019. The actual construction would take an estimated 6 – 8 months once it gets started.

The EDF representative stated that the project would mean temporary employment for 200 – 300 people during construction and 8-10 long term permanent employees would also be hired to operate he business locally.

A map of the proposed project is attached.

In other business Tuesday, the Supervisors approved wages for county employees and approved appropriating 100% of the 2016-2017 budget. Board chairman Dennis Bush stated that he felt County Department Heads have done a good job of controlling their department expenses for the past 2- 3 years.

The Sheridan Township Clerk has resigned, so a new clerk will need to be appointed to that position.

The supervisors also reviewed the report from the State Auditor, and Supervisor Bush also noted that Governor Branstad would be appearing at 12 noon this Thursday at The Rhoadside Blooming House in Cherokee for anyone interested in attending.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/06/24/wind-farm-proposed-in-cherokee-county/