On December 8, 2016, Amazon Wind Farm Fowler Ridge in Benton County, Indiana received a Top Plant Award in the renewables category from POWER magazine. All of the electricity generated by Amazon Wind Farm Fowler Ridge supplies the electric grids that service Amazon Web Services (AWS) datacenters.
“We are honored to receive this prestigious recognition for our Amazon Wind Farm, which was the first investment in a wind farm by Amazon Web Services,” said Mike Garland. “We are now working with Amazon, Google and Walmart, demonstrating that America’s leading corporations are increasingly investing in, or buying power from, clean energy sources like wind power. We see this growing trend driving the development of more new wind projects.”
“The trend of large corporations becoming key renewable energy project partners is a significant new disruptive element in the power industry,” said POWER’s editor, Gail Reitenbach, “and this award recognizes that shift. Amazon Wind Farm is unique among our award winners, as it is the only one with this sort of business plan.”
The Amazon Wind Farm Fowler Ridge began operations in January of this year. The 150 MW facility creates enough clean energy to power approximately 46,000 homes each year, according to average annual residential energy use data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The facility consists of 65 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines with ‘Made in America’ components. The turbine blades, nacelles, towers, and transformers were manufactured in the United States.
An average of 175 workers were on site during construction with up to 300 workers on site during peak construction activity. There are ten full-time permanent workers that operate and maintain the facility. The Amazon Wind Farm Fowler Ridge is expected to add an estimated $45 million to the regional economy over 25 years through property taxes, landowner royalties, and support for local causes.