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Ohio's Wind Farming
Traveling along SR 6 in Northwest Ohio you will see the wind mills miles into the distance. In your mind you say, oh wind mills, but as you grow closer, they grow larger and larger until you are simply amazed by their size.
It is the first utility wind farm in Ohio. Each of the four towering structures is 257 feet with three rotating blades 132 feet long. With the blade fully extended, its tip stands nearly 400 feet over the corn fields below. The blades rotate at 16.8 revolutions per minute and they are the largest wind turbines west of the Rocky Mountains.
Built on an old landfill just southwest of Bowling Green these turbines began operation in November, 2003. They generate electricity in winds as low a 9 miles per hour and will withstand gusts up to 133 miles per hour. They have an estimated combined output of almost 14,000 megawatt hours providing enough power for 1500 homes.
The Green Mountain Energy Company has worked with local Ohio utilities from Bowling Green, Cuyahoga Falls, Edgerton, Elmore, Monroeville, Montpelier, Napoleon, Oberlin, Pioneer and Wadsworth to create this wind farm. It is quite a sight to see and you will enjoy the short detour outside of the city.
Wind is an inexhaustable energy resource that can be homegrown. Positive effects on Ohio's economic development combined with minimal negative effects on our environment makes wind the right choice.
Ohio has even greater wind potential than researchers intially believed and we have an abundance of untapped manufacturing potential that wind power could help to harness.
The Ohio Wind Production & Manufacturing Incentive Program is made possible through funds collected under Ohio's Advanced Energy Fund.