Four months after the dedication of the Top-of-Iowa wind farm, builders have their plans ready to build another one. Jen Guarino says even the location’s been picked out for the east side of I-35 in Brookfield Township.The location near Kensett would have nearly 170 windmills, all generating power. But construction will not begin until a buyer’s found for the electricity generated by the wind farm. The company will look everywhere for an Iowa utility or anyone else. You can’t drive Interstate 35 north of Clear Lake without noticing more than 80 gigantic windmills already spinning at the first wind-farm, and Guarino says this one will be bigger.The proposed plan would have 80-meter towers, taller than the current ones. Guarino explains the hills east of I-35 have already been decorated with “met towers,” weather-recording instruments that assured planners there will be enough wind to run the generators. For three-to-six months the anemometer readings tell you where and when the wind blows. The Top of Iowa wind farm was sold a month after its dedication to a Houston power company that wanted the renewable energy credits in its portfolio, and planners say there should be no trouble finding a buyer for the new wind farm as well.
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