This 2.5 MW Clipper model C-96 turbine, part of NextEra's Endeavor I Wind Energy Center, burned for hours before this video was taken. The video shows the turbine's massive blade fall to the ground after first standing on its end before collapsing into a trail of black smoke and flames. The Endeavor I facility is located in Osceola County, Iowa. The turbines stand 420 feet tall including the 153-foot long blades; rotor diameter of 314-feet (96 meters). The 100 MW facility includes 40 turbines and was placed in service in 2008.  

Safety Structural Failure Iowa

Garner said the turbine in question is a 2.5 mega-watt Clipper turbine, located on the organization's Endeavor I Wind Energy Center in Osceola County. There is a second Endeavor energy center also located in the county, both beginning operation in 2008. 

Safety Structural Failure Iowa

The Ocheyedan Fire Department was called to the scene ...They stood by after the decision was made to let the fire burn itself out.

Safety Structural Failure Iowa

“So when Invenergy talks about most of the time the noise will be controlled and most of the time the lights won’t hit your house and It'll be one or two%. Well I know what it's like and it's huge when you are the 1 or two%."

Impact on People Minnesota Iowa

Municipalities, such as Ames, Iowa, are the primary beneficiaries of a lapsed state tax credit for renewable energy

Taxes & Subsidies Iowa

During this week’s Clay County Board of Supervisor’s meeting, county supervisors shared information, updates and asked questions regarding concerns raised about wind turbines that were stated at a prior meeting.

Zoning/Planning Iowa

During Tuesday's Clay County Board of Supervisor's meeting, county supervisors shared information, updates and asked questions regarding concerns raised about wind turbines that were stated at a prior meeting. Named the Upland Prairie Wind project, the proposed endeavor by Apex noted on its website that the project will produce 300 megawatts of energy, powering 102,000 homes. The wind energy project would see wind turbines in the northwest part of Clay County, around the townships of Waterford and southern Lone Tree.

Zoning/Planning Iowa

There are over a hundred Ida County residents crammed into the county courthouse who are worried. "There's a lot of concern out there," said Brett Bergman, a resident in Ida County. Nearly all of them are unhappy with the implementation of Wind Turbines in Ida County.

Impact on People Iowa

'We've become a dumping ground for wind turbines'

Impact on People Noise Shadow Flicker Iowa

"They're just greedy," said Fleenor, 64, who, with his wife, Diane, built their dream home seven years ago in Ida County and planned to retire there. "I'd move if I could," said Fleenor, who struggles to sleep because a large bank of windows designed to give him a bucolic view of a pond he built is filled instead each night with synchronized blinking red lights mounted on top of the turbines.

Impact on Landscape Impact on People Iowa

Dennis Meyer referenced comments that were made in an article about the decision being about the money that will come into the county coffers. “You have given into the wind energy companies and allowed them to tell the county what works for them,” he said. “You have taken it totally out of the farmers and the property owners that are going to live around them. You also said you are doing what’s best for the majority of the county with no regard to adjacent landowners.”

Zoning/Planning Iowa

The Office of Consumer Advocate, part of the Iowa attorney general's office, said MidAmerican is unfairly benefiting by seeking to pass through to ratepayers $3.7 million in costs for producing wind energy when wholesale energy prices are negative while keeping the associated federal production tax credits.

General Iowa

As the O’Brien County Assessment of Wind Energy Conversion Property ordinance requires, MidAmerican Energy Company (MEC) recently reported to the assessor’s office the final net acquisition cost figure for the recently completed and commissioned O’Brien Wind Energy Project located in northern O’Brien County along Highway 18 near Sanborn.

Taxes & Subsidies Iowa

"They are unsightly," the farmer said of the turbines in his backyard. "When I am driving down my lane at night, all I see is blinking red lights. It is just horrible." "And the sound they make. Every night I lose an hour of sleep from these suckers. My doctor gave me a pill, but it ain't (expletive) helping."

General Iowa

Iowa landowners are being presented with a proposal for signing or not signing a wind turbine leasement (a combination of a lease and an easement).

General Iowa

I am writing in response to the article on wind turbines near Hudson in the Dec. 27 Courier, and the subsequent editorial in the Jan. 4 edition. Both articles quote the RPMA representative saying “the design hasn’t happened yet, we don’t know where the turbines are going to be.”

General Iowa

A semi-trailer with the message “Stop RICL” sits in a field near Highway 20 approximately a mile east of Dike. The company behind the proposed transmission line recently announced that it is withdrawing its application for a franchise permit in Iowa while it awaits a legal challenge in Illinois. 

Transmission Iowa

Opponents worry the large turbines would hurt their property values; kill bats and birds, including eagles spotted in the area; throw ice from the blades; and even cause human health issues due to low-frequency noise, motion and shadow flicker. “Black Hawk County is prime agricultural ground,” Nieman added. “Wind turbines should be on ground that is not productive.”

General Iowa

Rock Island Clean Line withdrew its petition Thursday seeking permission from the Iowa Utilities Board to build an electric transmission line across Iowa — a move that the project's opponents hailed as a victory for state landowners.

Legal Transmission Illinois Iowa

Clean Line Energy Partners announced Thursday it is withdrawing its application to the Iowa Utilities Board to construct a transmission line across the state pending a court challenge to the project in Illinois.

Transmission Iowa