Telegraph-Herald

Alliant turns to wind power
Turbines: Utility will buy power that’s generated at the Montfort Wind Farm

by M. D. KITTLE

MONTFORT, Wis. — An area utility is tapping into the power of southwest Wisconsin wind.

Alliant Energy Wisconsin Power and Light this week announced that it will purchase 4.5 megawatts of power from Florida Power and Light, LLC, the utility that owns and operates the Montfort Wind Farm, located on U.S. 18 in the Iowa County town of Eden.

“We’ve been a partner in this project through installation of electrical infrastructure to support the wind farm and took the opportunity to extend that partnership to expand the size of the project,” said Kim Zuhlke, vice president of sales, marketing and engineering for Alliant Energy.

FPL Energy, based in Juno Beach, Fla., recently completed the construction of 17 wind turbines at the Montfort Wind Farm. The 25.5 megawatts of power generated from those turbines was sold to Wisconsin Electric Power Co. and will serve about 5,000 customers.

Under the contract with Alliant, FPL will build three more turbines at the wind farm, and Alliant will buy the 4.5 megawatts of capacity generated by the additional turbines. The megawatts will help serve the electrical needs of about 1,000 customers, according to Chris Schoenherr, Alliant spokesman.

Schoenherr said the timing of the project is perfect.

“Since you’ve got all the equipment in place to do it, let’s take care of it now,” he said.

The additional three turbines should be operational by mid-June, Alliant officials confirmed.

Schoenherr said residents of Eden Township were interested in seeing the project expanded. He said the community has “really embraced this new technology.”

“This is primarily an agricultural community that recognizes when you have cropland you have to make efficient use of it,” Schoenherr said. “Wind is another crop they can harvest.”

Wayne Grimm, Eden Town Board chairman, said he hasn’t heard any complaints from residents about the turbines.

“I’m not getting a lot of comments other than ‘they are mammoth,’ and ‘wow, look at those!’ Looks like a favorable thing from what I can see,” Grimm said.

There is no disputing the “mammoth” size of the structures, which can be seen from miles away. The wind turbines are placed on 215-foot towers and outfitted with 110-foot blades.

“Everybody thinks they are pretty neat,” said LaVerne Clifton, one of six Eden landowners leasing land for the project. Three turbines were installed on Clifton’s property.

Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, the Madison, Wis.-based nonprofit organization that promotes clean energy strategies, called the Montfort wind project “a textbook example of how quickly a good thing can happen when the entire community lines up in support of a good idea.”

“Whereas most electricity projects take anywhere from two to six years to move from concept to reality, the process took less than a year in this corner of southwest Wisconsin,” he said.

The Iowa County Board last October unanimously approved a zoning change for the project, just a few months after the wind farm was proposed. Construction of the first 17 turbines started a few weeks after the board’s action.

Clifton said there were a few Eden residents who were worried before construction began about the potential noise produced by the gigantic turbines. But Clifton said noise really hasn’t been an issue.

“You can hear them, but it’s nothing like the traffic going down the road,” he said. “It’s kind of a humming sound, nothing aggravating.”

Schoenherr said the 1.5 megawatt turbines are the largest in Wisconsin.

“The technology has improved, so that we are able to make larger turbines that are able to harvest more and more energy out of the existing wind,” he said.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2001