Alliant Energy’s 200MW Iowa wind farm goes online

14 December 2009

US Midwest energy company Alliant Energy has initiated commercial operation of its first owned and operated wind farm in Iowa. The Whispering Willow Farm-East, based in Franklin County is capable of generating up to 200MW of power

‘This is an important day for our company, electric customers and the environment as we continue to strive to meet the increasing demand for green energy,’ said Bill Harvey, president, Alliant Energy.

The farm, consisting of 121 wind turbines spread out over 144 square miles, was constructed by Alliant, and will be run by subsidiary Interstate Power and Light. Construction on the wind farm began in the fall of 2008. Iowa ranks second in the US state renewable energy league tables, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

Tom Aller, president, Interstate Power and Light, said, ‘Our investment in Whispering Willow Wind Farm-East helps us balance the need to provide affordable energy to our customers while at the same time making sure we’re utilizing new technologies to reduce our impact on the environment.’

Alliant also recently won approval to construct a 200MW wind farm in Freeborn Country, Minnesota, through subsidiary Wisconsin Power and Light. With an estimated cost of between $425m and $475m, WPL says that it plans to build 200MW of emissions-free wind energy at the Bent Tree site, enough to power 50,000 homes, with commercial operation expected to commence in 2011.

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Tags: wind

This story was published on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 4:49 pm and is filed under North America, companies, wind. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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