Wind Energy Farm Is OKd for Wisconsin
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin regulators approved a $250-million wind farm Friday that its proponents said would generate energy for 72,000 homes and opponents warned would kill migratory birds.
Invenergy Wind LLC of Chicago hopes to begin work later this year on the 200-megawatt wind farm on 50 square miles in southern Wisconsin.
One opponent predicted the 133 turbines -- each 389 feet tall with three 126-foot-long blades -- will produce a “slaughter” of birds that stop in a nearby marsh.
But Neil Palmer, a consultant for the Invenergy subsidiary created for the project, said no evidence supported such claims, and that the bird mortality rate near other wind farms was low.
The Public Service Commission voted to approve the project on land in Dodge and Fond du Lac counties.
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