Wisconsin Public Power to add wind energy

Wisconsin Public Power Inc. has agreed to buy 50 megawatts of power from a 7,000 acre wind farm being developed in Iowa.

The Sun Prairie power company said it has entered into a 20-year purchased power agreement with Northern Iowa Windpower II L.L.C., a subsidiary of the wind farm’s developer Midwest Renewable Energy Projects L.L.C., Joice, Iowa. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The project, called Top of Iowa Phase II, is in Joice in north central Iowa, approximately six miles east of the existing Top of Iowa wind farm commissioned in late 2001. The Top of Iowa Phase II facility is expected to consist of up to 67 wind turbines and is planned to be in service by Dec. 31, 2007.

Wisconsin Public Power’s share of the wind farm is expected to generate enough electricity to power the annual needs of approximately 16,000 homes.

Wisconsin Public Power is an energy company that supplies power to 44 municipalities that operate utilities. Its renewable energy portfolio includes two wind turbines near Worthington, Minn., with a combined generating capacity of 1.8 megawatts, and a 7-megawatt hydroelectric plant near Black River Falls. It is also developing a 4.8-megawatt landfill-to-gas project in Outagamie County.