Until 2008 Indiana’s wind power capacity comprised of just a few small windmills with the breakthrough year coming in 2009 when Indiana recorded second fastest growth in wind energy development at national level, trailing only leader Texas.
In May 2011 Indiana adopted renewable energy portfolio standard under which state must obtain 10 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2025. There's very little doubt that the most of this clean electricity will come from wind farms. Indiana currently has 1339 Megawatts (MW) of installed wind power capacity.
Indiana belongs to Midwest states that have a fair amount of wind resources throughout the entire year. According to the National Renewable Energy Lab tapping only a quarter of Indiana's wind power resources would be enough to satisfy the state's current electricity needs.
In 2010, wind provided 2.4% of state's power, and at the end of 2010 Indiana was ranked 12th in the country for installed wind power capacity. The state's wind energy industry hopes that the growth of wind power capacity will continue, especially after the adoption of renewable energy portfolio standard which should attract more companies and create many new jobs in the Hoosier State.
One of this new companies is also the Global Blade Technology that will spend $17.6 million to place two wind turbine blade factories in the state of Indiana after recognizing the excellent potential of Indiana and the Midwest region in general in terms of future wind energy development. This project alone should by 2014 bring 400 new jobs in Indiana.
The largest wind farms in Indiana are Fowler Ridge Wind Farm in Benton County with the capacity of 600 MW coming from 355 turbines, and Meadow Lake Wind Farm, located in White County with the currently installed capacity of 501 MW coming from 303 turbines. Other large wind power projects in Indiana include Benton County Wind Farm with an installed capacity of 131 MW, and Hoosier Wind Project with an installed capacity of 106 MW.
Indiana has many rural areas suitable to support large wind power projects. This is a big advantage over many other states, and one of the main factors that should ensure steady growth of state's wind power industry in years to come.
