First Wind has celebrated the completion of the first phase of its Milford Wind Corridor project. Located in Utah, the first phase of the project will generate 203.5 MW of clean energy, making it not only the largest wind farm in the state, but also the largest renewable energy facility in Utah.
The first phase of the project has the capacity to generate clean, wind energy to power about 45,000 homes per year.
The wind farm consists of 97 wind turbine generators – 58 Clipper Liberty 2.5 MW wind turbines and 39 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines
A 140 kilometre transmission line connecting the farm to the Intermountain Power Agency has been constructed, along with 13 meteorological towers, a facility collector substation and a 34.5-kV power underground collection system linking each turbine to the next and to the facility substation.
The project generated over 250 jobs and First Wind says it spent directly spent about $30 million with Utah-based businesses developing and building the first phase of the project and another $56 million in indirect spending such as wages and taxes
Calculations based on data from the U.S. EPA’s Emissions and Generation Resource Integrated Database (E-GRID), traditional generation sources producing an equivalent annual amount of electricity as the Milford wind farm would generate more than 210,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the equivalent of more than 37,000 cars.
Additionally, equivalent energy production from traditional sources would generate 295 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) – a component of acid rain.
