A northern Indiana wind farm that will eventually power more than 200,000 homes shows that the state is becoming a clean energy leader, Gov. Mitch Daniels said Thursday.
Daniels visited the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm for a ceremony during which he joined other officials in signing one of the giant blades that power the projects' wind turbines.
"We need more energy, more homegrown energy and more cleaner and greener energy," said Daniels, who rode his motorcycle to the site.
The Benton County farm – a joint project between BP (nyse: BP – news – people ) Alternative Energy Inc. and Dominion Resources (nyse: D – news – people ) Inc. – is located about 90 miles northwest of Indianapolis. Its first phase is expected to go online late this year with 222 turbines that will produce about 400 megawatts of power.
Construction of the second phase is expected to begin as early as next year and generate an additional 350 megawatts of power.
When fully operational, the project will be one of the nation's largest wind farms.
It is one of six Indiana wind farms in the works that are expected to generate a combined 3,000 megawatts. Several other wind projects were in the planning stages, state officials said.
