Mississippi officially launched its first utility-scale wind farm yesterday, and it’s got the tallest onshore wind turbines in the US.
The 184.5-megawatt (MW) Delta Wind is in Tunica County, near the Arkansas and Tennessee borders. Power utility AES Corporation owns and operates the wind farm.
Amazon will purchase the power from Delta Wind for its regional data centers and logistics hubs – the equivalent of enough power for 80,000 households. In January, Amazon announced it would invest $10 billion to build two data center complexes in Mississippi – the single largest capital investment in the state’s history.
The US Southeast has been slow to adopt onshore wind due to political opposition and lower wind speeds at lower altitudes. However, AES Corporation told Canary Media in an exclusive that Delta Wind’s 41 Vestas onshore turbines are the tallest in the US, with blades reaching 692 feet at the highest point:
“As technology has improved, it’s really unlocked some areas like Mississippi that don’t have a hugely robust wind resource,” Woody Rubin, chief development officer for AES’ US renewable energy business, told Canary Media. “Now it’s possible to take advantage of and have a really competitive levelized cost of energy for the region.”
Delta Wind sits on around 14,000 acres of private farmland. Rice, soybeans, corn, and wheat will continue to be grown under and around the turbines, which have special anchors made for the soft soil to accommodate crop growth. Mississippi’s first wind farm is projected to generate $100 million in local property tax revenue over its lifespan.
Read more: We’re closer to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 than we look – IEA
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