megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
(MW)
wind farm
A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
,
Jasper
Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...
, and Benton Counties. It is owned and operated by EDP Renewables North America. The facility currently has six operational phases, with 414 turbines, and is a prominent feature on both sides of
Interstate 65
Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south Interstate Highway System, interstate highway in the central United States. As with most primary interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between th ...
in western
Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
.
Phase I
Phase I consists of 121
Vestas
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. The company operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Romania, the Un ...
wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...
Meadow Lake II Wind Farm has an installed capacity of 99 MW – enough to power approximately 27,000 average Indiana homes with clean energy. The wind farm, which consists of 66
Acciona
Acciona, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational conglomerate dedicated to the development and management of infrastructure (construction, water, industrial and services) and renewable energy. The company, via subsidiary Acciona Energía, produces 21 ...
AWs-1.5 MW turbines, achieved commercial operation in June 2010.
Phase III
Meadow Lake III Wind Farm has an installed capacity of 103.5 MW – enough to power approximately 28,000 average Indiana homes with clean energy. The wind farm, which consists of 69
GE Energy
GE Power (formerly known as GE Energy) was an American energy technology company owned by General Electric (GE). In April 2024, GE completed the spin-off of GE Power into a separate company, GE Vernova. Following this, General Electric ceased t ...
SLE-1.5 MW turbines, achieved commercial operation in October 2010.
Phase IV
Meadow Lake IV Wind Farm has an installed capacity of 98.7 MW – enough to power approximately 27,000 average Indiana homes with clean energy. The wind farm, which achieved commercial operation in October 2010, consists of 47
Suzlon
Suzlon Energy is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational wind turbine manufacturer headquartered in Pune.
History
Tulsi Tanti was a Gujarati people, Gujarati businessman managing a small textile company. Due to the erratic availa ...
S88-2.1 MW turbines.
Phases V and VI
Meadow Lake V and VI have installed capacities of 100 MW and 200.4 MW, respectively. Phase V came fully online in 2018 and consists of 50
Vestas
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. The company operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Romania, the Un ...
V110-2.0 MW turbines. Phase VI came fully online in 2019 and consists of 61 turbines (12 Vestas V110-2.0 MW wind turbines and 49 Vestas V136-3.6 MW) that include some of the tallest and most powerful in the state.
Future expansion
In early 2010, an EDP Renewables representative and local renewable energy advocates scouted the Meadow Lake project area for a location to build a visitor center. One possibility was an unused building near the intersection of
I-65
Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south interstate highway in the central United States. As with most primary interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between the Great Lakes and the Gulf ...
and US-231 (), near where a wind turbine will be installed within the next year.
Environmental impact
At a planned ultimate nameplate capacity of 1000 MW, EDP Renewables North America claims that Meadow Lake would be one of the largest wind farms in the world. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that such facilities would generate enough electricity to power about 250,000 homes, annually saving 1,684 million gallons of water and eliminating 3.1 million tons of
carbon dioxide emissions
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate change. The ...
. Horizon further estimates that Phases I and II should eliminate just under one million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
Phase I spreads over a ten by six mile area since large wind turbines must be spaced at least 5 to 10 rotor diameters apart to avoid wind shadowing. Most of the land between turbines remains productive farmland; only about of farmland have been taken out of production by the 121 turbines.
Electricity production
(*) partial year of operation
See also
*
Wind power in Indiana
Wind power in Indiana was limited to a few small water-pumping windmills on farms until 2008 with construction of Indiana's first utility-scale wind power facility, Benton County Wind Farm, Goodland (phase I) with a nameplate capacity of 130 mega ...
Fowler Ridge Wind Farm
The Fowler Ridge Wind Farm is a wind farm in Benton County, Indiana, near the city of Fowler, IN about northwest of Lafayette and northwest of Indianapolis. Fowler Ridge was originally developed in 2005 and 2006 by Orion Energy, LLC (Oakland, ...