By IANS,
Washington : A tiny town with a population of just over 1,300 residents has become the world’s first to derive all its power requirements from wind turbines.
Rock Port, Missouri, uses only 13 million kilowatt hours, but all of it comes from four wind turbines that produce 16 million kilowatt hours of power every year.
The excess power is funnelled into transmission lines to be purchased by the Missouri Joint Municipal Utilities for use in other areas.
University of Missouri specialists said that there are excellent opportunities for sustainable wind power in northwest Missouri.
These specialists say the wind farms will bring in more than $1.1 million annually in county real estate taxes, to be paid by Wind Capital Group, a wind energy developer based in St. Louis.
“This is a unique situation because in rural areas it is quite uncommon to have this increase in taxation revenues,” said Jerry Baker, a community development specialist at the University of Missouri.
The alternative energy source also benefits landowners, who can make anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 leasing part of their property for wind turbines.
Other wind energy companies are looking at possible sites in northwest Missouri, Baker said.
A map published by the US Department of Energy indicates that northwest Missouri has the state’s highest concentration of wind resources and contains a number of locations potentially suitable for utility-scale wind development.