Wind power in Indiana

Benton Cty

Fowler Ridge

Meadow Lake

Hoosier

Union City

Headwaters

Carthage

Haubstadt

Kokomo

LaGrange

Wildcat I

Wind power projects in Indiana
  Operating
  Under construction
  Stand Alone Facilities

Wind power in Indiana was limited to a few small water-pumping windmills on farms until 2008 with construction of Indiana's first utility-scale wind power facility, Goodland (phase I) with a nameplate capacity of 130 MW. As of January 2016, Indiana had a total of 1895 MW of wind power capacity installed, ranking it 12th among U.S. states.^[1]

The main utility-scale development up to 2016 has been in the northwest part of the state in Benton, White, and Jasper Counties. Fowler Ridge phase III should be completed later in 2010, to give a final nameplate capacity of 750 MW, making Fowler Ridge the Midwest's largest wind farm, and one of the largest in the world. Phases II-VI at Meadow Lake, when complete, will make Meadow Lake even larger at 1000 MW.^[2]

Installed capacity and wind resources

The following table compares the growth in wind power installed nameplate capacity in MW for Indiana and the entire United States since 2003.^[3]

Year Indiana US 2003 0 6,370 2004 0 6,725 2005 0 9,149 2006 0 11,603 2007 0 16,819 2008 130 25,170 2009 1036 35,159 2010 1238 40,180 2011 1340 46,919 2012 1543 60,007 2013 1544 61,110	Installed capacity by state as of 2013 (animated map of installed capacity growth)	Average annual wind power density map for Indiana at 50m above ground

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that Indiana has the potential to install up to 148 GW of onshore wind power nameplate capacity, generating 443 TWh annually.^[4][5] For comparison, Indiana consumed 106.549 TWh of electricity in 2005;^[6] while the entire U.S. wind power industry generated approximately 50 TWh in 2008; and Three Gorges Dam (the world's largest electricity-generating station) produced an average of 80 TWh/yr in 2008 and 2009.

Indiana also has some offshore wind resources in the shallows of Lake Michigan along its shoreline.^[7][8][9] However, offshore wind power development is far behind onshore development in the United States generally, because onshore development is cheaper and the United States has an abundance of suitable onshore sites to develop. Indiana has no offshore wind farms as of 2016.

Wind generation

Indiana wind generation by month.

Indiana Wind Generation in 2015

Source:^{[10][11][12][13]}

Wind farms

The following table of wind farms and utility-scale wind power developments uses data from the AWEA,^[3] the State of Indiana,^[14] and other sources. For the larger projects constructed in phases, the table lists separate information for each phase. The name of each wind farm is the name used by the energy company when referring to the farm. The Wind Farm suffix is implied and hence removed for brevity. For more details and references for each wind farm, see its article.

Single-unit turbines

In addition to the above wind farms, single stand-alone units have also been built in five other locations, mostly at schools. Some of these units were placed to test the environment for future wind energy development.^[15][16][17]

Environmental impact

According to the USDOE, each 1000 MW of wind power capacity installed in Indiana will annually save 1,684 million gallons of water and eliminate 3.1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.^[18]

For comparison, Indiana emitted a total of 230,830,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2007.^[19][20]

As of March 2010 Indiana lacked a renewable energy standard, unlike several other midwestern states: Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Iowa.^[21] Nevertheless, Indiana's wind power development had outpaced that of Ohio and Michigan.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wind power in Indiana.

• Indiana Energy Production
• Index of Indiana-related articles
• List of U.S. states by carbon dioxide emissions
• List of wind farms in the United States
• Outline of Indiana

References

Wind power in the United States
American Wind Energy Association NASA wind turbines United States Wind Energy Policy Wind farms in the US Offshore wind farms in the US Wind Powering America
Wind power by state	Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Large wind farms	Alta Wind Energy Center Altamont Pass Biglow Canyon Buffalo Gap Capricorn Ridge Cedar Creek Fowler Ridge Highland Horse Hollow Klondike Lone Star Meadow Lake Panther Creek Peetz Peñascal Roscoe San Gorgonio Pass Shepherds Flat Tehachapi Pass Windy Point/Windy Flats
Wind power companies	Aermotor Windmill Company Deepwater Wind GE Wind Energy Iberdrola Renovables Infigen Energy Invenergy National Wind Native Wind NextEra Energy Resources Siemens Wind Power UGE International Vestas Wind Capital Group