Wind Energy Industry Creates Hundreds of Iowa Green Jobs

Wind Farm Will Create Iowa Jobs – Image from Wikipedia

More than 100 wind turbines are slated to be installed on a wind farm in Iowa in 2012, thus creating 420 green jobs in the state, enXco Development Corporation in Minneapolis, Minn., said today.

About 1,400 acres of land south of Fort Dodge will become the new home of 157 wind turbines in 2012. The wind farm project, formally known as the Lundgren Project in Webster County, will generate 400 green jobs in the construction industry as well as 20 operation and maintenance green jobs along with administrator positions with the wind turbines.

“It’s clean energy,” said Don Sandell, who owns the land that will become the new wind farm. “It’s good jobs for the area. … There are a lot of economic benefits for the whole area.”

Wind Farm Expected to Be Highly Productive

enXco Development Corporation used a meteorological tower to measure the wind speeds on the new potential wind farm and affirmed that the wind farm will provide enough wind for the more than 150 wind turbines to operate efficiently.

“The great wind resource will be one of the variables which will ensure a very economical project,” said Shanelle Evens, landowner and community coordinator supervisor with enXco Development Corporation.

About 20 percent of the electricity produced in Iowa between January 2011 and April 2011 actually came from wind turbines, according to the American Wind Energy Association. With the new wind farm project in place in Webster County, 250 megawatts of energy will be produced from wind turbines, which is adequate to generate energy for about 80,000 houses annually.

In addition, Midwest Independent Systems Operator controls the high-voltage transmission lines located on the wind farm site, which will help transfer the electricity generated from the Lundgren Project wind turbines in Webster County.

“With adequate transmission the wind is blowing somewhere at some time,” said Johnathan Hladik, who works with the Center for Rural Affairs. “With enough turbines online … there’s some place you can tap which can make wind reliable.”

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