The Intrepid Wind Farm consists of 107
wind turbines, located in
Sac
SAC or Sac may refer to:
Organizations Education
* Santa Ana College, California, US
* San Antonio College, Texas, US
* St. Andrew's College, Aurora, Canada
* Students' Administrative Council, University of Toronto, Canada
* SISD Student Activiti ...
and
Buena Vista counties in north-west
Iowa, has a generating capacity of 160.5
megawatts of electricity. The
wind power project is
MidAmerican Energy Company’s first owned and operated wind generation facility and became operational on December 31, 2004.
When MidAmerican Energy first began planning the Intrepid site, the company worked closely alongside several state and national environmental groups with a view towards minimizing the environmental impact. Using input from such diverse groups as the
Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the
Nature Conservancy,
Iowa State University, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the
Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation
The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF) is a statewide non-profit natural conservation organization based in Des Moines, Iowa. The organization has protected more than in 94 of Iowa’s 99 counties and worked on hundreds of different project s ...
, and the Iowa Chapter of the
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
, MidAmerican created a statewide map of areas in the proposed region that contained specific bird populations or habitats. Those areas were then avoided when detailed
site planning occurred. MidAmerican also worked in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers to secure all necessary permits related to any potential risk to
wetlands in the area. Regular inspections are also conducted to make certain that the
wind farm is causing no adverse environmental impact to the region.
See also
*
Wind power in the United States
*
List of large wind farms
References
{{Reflist
Energy infrastructure completed in 2004
Buildings and structures in Buena Vista County, Iowa
Buildings and structures in Sac County, Iowa
Wind farms in Iowa