South Dakota! Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Wires...

Wind power is seizing both individual and corporate imaginations in Madison. While Craig Van Hove ereects his rooftop welding-chop windmill in town, our local Enron, Heartland Consumer Power District, has struck a deal with global investment firm Babcock and Brown (how's that for "In Touch with the World"?) to purchase wind power from a 34-turbine wind farm to be built on the western ridge of the James River Valley just south of Wessington Springs. Last night's MDL gives the following details on the project:

• The wind farm will cover 3000 acres along a five-mile stretch of the ridge, down to the big transmission lines from the Missouri River.
• Construction begins 2008; power starts flowing 2009.
• Total energy output potential: 213,000 MWh, enough for 13,031 homes
• Each tower will be 262 feet tall.
• Each rotor will be 253 feet in diameter.

No word yet of any opposition from wealthy Wessington Springs mansion owners who don't want their view spoiled by renewable energy as was the case off Cape Cod a couple years ago. And while I certainly hope these towers won't come with scores of flashing beacons keeping neighbors up at night, a progressive project like this should do nothing but good for South Dakota. Hook me up!

Update: Northern Valley Beacon notes a potential downside to the growth of wind power in the state. We aren't building self-sufficiency; we're surrendering our natural resources to international corporate interests who see energy as a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder. I suppose this isn't an acceptably rigorous economic perspective, but it does seem odd that we South Dakotans will pay Australians for energy generated in South Dakota.