As they are becoming all the energetic rage, Kirk Kraft, with RPM Access Wind Development of Des Moines, has announced plans to construct a wind farm near Gladbrook.
"We have filed the permits for what we're going to call the Vienna Project," he told the Marshall County Board of Supervisors Tuesday. "We got those in last week."
While many of the details have yet to be released, Kraft said Vienna's wind farm will contain approximately 60 to 70 machines.
"I think it will be 150-megawatts," he said. "We haven't selected a turbine vendor, but it will be a little big bigger than the one in Laurel."
Construction is slated to begin sometime in 2012.
Speaking of the Laurel wind farm, it is expected to be producing electricity for MidAmerican Energy by Dec. 31.
Its makeup contains 52 2.3 megawatt wind turbines, each requiring a 16-foot wide gravel-and-cement stabilized road, as well as underground cables to deliver power from turbines to the substation.
Kraft said foundations are being poured this month and though major components are scheduled for delivery in October, operations seem to be somewhat ahead of schedule.
"They might possibly be [placed] in September," he said. "But, we've pretty well completed our tasks of handing over the project to MidAmerican."
The energy company began installing wind turbines in 2004. It currently owns and operates eight wind farms with a total of 833 turbines, representing more than 1,284 megawatts of wind energy.
