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Fowler Ridge Wind Farm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fowler Ridge Wind Farm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Phase I of the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm is currently online in Benton County, near Fowler, IN around 90 miles (140 km) northwest of Indianapolis. The wind farm will be completed in two phases and will have a nameplate capacity of 750 MW total, making it one of the largest in the world. The first phase of the project, consisting of 222 wind turbines, 182 Vestas V82-1.65MW turbines and 40 Clipper C-96 2.5MW turbines, with a capacity of 400 MW, is complete. Phase 2 (350 MW) could begin in early 2009.

I drive past this wind farm on my drive between Chicago and Indianapolis and it’s a sight to behold. When they were assembling some more turbines close to the road a little while back I got to see one of the rotors lying on the ground, waiting to be hoisted onto the pole. A single blade is absolutely massive. Now that the days are getting shorter, it’s inevitably dark when I drive by, and the red lights mounted at the top of the pole all blink in unison, red lights blinking stretching out as far as the eye can see in a 180° radius from my car’s position on the highway. It’s a little spooky, but the sight of the turbines when it’s light out is breathtaking.