A breeze: Wind Capital sets course for third wind farm

For the third time, Wind Capital Group, John Deere and Missouri cooperatives have announced plans to build another utility-scale wind farm. The $75 million wind farm is slated to operate in northwest Missouri by the end of 2007.

Wind Capital Group, John Deere and Missouri cooperatives said in July that a second 50-megawatt wind farm would be constructed in Atchison County, Mo., next year.

"For the longest time, this wind farm existed in my head, on the piles on my desk, as a file on my computer and in the faces of the landowners, engineers and consultants," said developer Tom Carnahan, president of Wind Capital Group, in a statement.

John Deere Wind Energy, a unit of Deere & Co., is providing debt and equity investment and co-development services for the three wind farms in northwest Missouri. The new project will be located near the town of Conception in Nodaway County.

The electricity will be purchased by Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. and distributed through its network of regional and local rural electric cooperatives.

Construction on the second wind farm, the Cow Branch Wind Energy Project in Atchison County, will start next year. It will consist of 24 Suzlon S-88, 2.1-MW turbines. Combined, the three wind farms could produce more than 150 megawatts. That's enough power for about 45,000 homes, according to a release.

St. Louis-based Wind Capital Group is an energy developer.