A St. Louis company hopes to build Florida's first wind farm, on thousands of acres of sugar land east of Belle Glade.
Wind Capital Group is looking to convert the breezes blowing off Lake Okeechobee into energy that could power homes and businesses across South Florida.
The company met with Palm Beach County planners last week to begin work on changes to the county's development rules that would be needed before its turbines could be built.
The $250 million project could be a boon for the area, creating 250 to 300 construction jobs, the company estimates, in a depressed region where unemployment rates in November ranged as high as 44.9 percent in South Bay and 30.4 percent in Pahokee — well above the countywide average.
The company wants to build between 84 and 100 wind turbines, on land near the intersection of State Road 880 and Browns Farm Road in the county's Everglades Agricultural Area. The turbines would be placed to mile apart from each other and would stretch across 11,000 to 15,000 acres, said Robin Saiz, Wind Capital's director of project development.
Wind Capital would lease land around the base of the turbines from area farmers and sugar growers, who would continue to farm the remaining property.
Each turbine would stand between 262 feet and 328 feet tall, roughly the height of a 30-story building or the Statue of Liberty, which stands 305 feet from ground to flame.
Saiz said the turbines, which produce little noise, would likely be visible to westbound travelers on State Road 80 from several miles away as they approach 20-Mile Bend.
The 150-megawatt farm would generate the energy equivalent of more than 500,000 barrels of oil each year, according to the company's web site.
Environmentalists say they are concerned spinning turbines could harm birds and bats.
One fear: that migratory birds flying through the region could be struck by the fast-moving blades. The endangered snail kite, for one, could be devastated if even a few were killed, environmentalists say.
