A special thank you to all those who have participated in our “I Remember Rippey” series. Your remembrances have allowed readers to share in our town’s history, activities, sports, school, church, and daily life covering 150 years.
We will continue posting online here, using “I Remember Rippey” remembrances received prior to April 30, 2020. If you would like to read more Rippey history, you may also click on the History tab of the Rippey Library website: https://www.rippey.lib.ia.us ..
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Rippey Wind Farm by Mary Weaver
The flatness of the prairie landscape changed to the north and west of Rippey in 2012. Twenty wind turbine generators were erected about 3 miles north, in an east to west arc of about 10 miles between Rippey and Grand Junction. During the summer of 2012 almost 100 workers erected the 328 feet high turbines.
During a personal visit to the construction with friends during that summer, the late LaVerne Erickson, land owner of a turbine site, was on the job completing his “daily inspection”. He, like many others, was excited to see the landscape “begin to bloom with these regal towers”.
Another highlight of our visit to the site, was to observe the entrepreneurial efforts of some of the neighborhood children who made food available to the workers. The menu included popcorn, cinnamon rolls, hamburgers, and pulled pork sandwiches. Their mom later informed me they made enough money to purchase all of their school clothes.
Many summer evenings this writer was able to observe the turbine work area ablaze with lights, as the lifting and placement of the blades was more easily done at night when the wind was minimal.
Here are some additional facts for those who are interested:
The blade length was 164 feet, so ground to tip of blade is 492 feet at the high point. The blade weighs 10.8 tons, and the tower is held in position by 730.6 yards of concrete. To continue to review the structure, the small building at the top is called a “nacelle” or referred to as the dog house. It is about the size of a public transportation bus. It contains the generator, the brakes, and the yaw. It converts the wind (kinetic energy) into electricity.
The contracting company was RPM A (Renewable Power Market) Access. Twenty-eight landowners and 3,500 acres comprise the wind farm; 3.6 miles of access roads were built to the turbines; and almost ten miles of underground wiring collection was completed, but all with efficiency as only 20 farmable acres became non-tillable.
The blades were delivered by escort semi-truck in May of 2012, after being manufactured in Arkansas. A mere breeze of 6.71 miles per hour will cause electricity to be created, but if the wind reaches higher than 56 miles per hour, the computer associated with the turbine will shut it down. A final wind speed fact: the tip speed of the blade will travel up to 172.2 miles per hour.
The electricity generated is being sold to Central Iowa Power Cooperative under a 25 year contract agreement. The $75 million investment from Google, their second wind energy investment, will produce electricity for up to 15,000 homes.
RPM continues to be a good neighbor as they provide philanthropic donations to Rippey as well as other Greene County projects.
The photo shows the “signing” of a blade by the landowners and neighbors. The RPM Company and the Rippey coordinator, Jim Dimond, were good neighbors, hosting several meals as information was shared with the land owners. Specific information for this article was provided by him. Rippeyites hold fond remembrances of him, as he maintained his office in a corner of the Rippey Library Community Room.