Iowa is beautiful, but ...

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by sequoias

Radio/cell phone towers on farm properties are income to farmers too.

So then windmills will add to that.

[jm31828]

I am originally from eastern South Dakota, and lived for 12 years in southeast Nebraska not too far from the Iowa border before moving away from the area a few years ago. I definitely don't agree with what someone said about Iowa and that region being the most beautiful in the lower 48- the landscape is very dull in that area, and any beauty one can find is definitely subtle. People who think that is the pinnacle of beauty in the lower 48 must not have seen what true natural beauty exists out there in the rest of the country, especially west of the Great Plains.

And regarding the comment about windmills being "everywhere"- I have driven all across Iowa, the entire length of I-29, the entire length of I-80, and from Des Moines up into Minnesota on I-35, and I don't recall seeing many if any windmills at all. The only time I saw any was when storm chasing in a rural area off the main highways somewhere about an hour southwest of Des Moines. I liked seeing a field full of them- it breaks up the monotony of the landscape, and really makes for a cool view. I always wished they had more of them in my own area back in Nebraska at the time. Never understood why the didn't, given the constant wind we had.

[capitalcityguy]

Originally Posted by jm31828

I am originally from eastern South Dakota, and lived for 12 years in southeast Nebraska not too far from the Iowa border before moving away from the area a few years ago. I definitely don't agree with what someone said about Iowa and that region being the most beautiful in the lower 48- the landscape is very dull in that area, and any beauty one can find is definitely subtle. People who think that is the pinnacle of beauty in the lower 48 must not have seen what true natural beauty exists out there in the rest of the country, especially west of the Great Plains.

And regarding the comment about windmills being "everywhere"- I have driven all across Iowa, the entire length of I-29, the entire length of I-80, and from Des Moines up into Minnesota on I-35, and I don't recall seeing many if any windmills at all. The only time I saw any was when storm chasing in a rural area off the main highways somewhere about an hour southwest of Des Moines. I liked seeing a field full of them- it breaks up the monotony of the landscape, and really makes for a cool view. I always wished they had more of them in my own area back in Nebraska at the time. Never understood why the didn't, given the constant wind we had.

You obviously haven't' drivin I-35 north to Minnesota lately. Near the last exit out of Iowa, there are two huge wind farms on BOTH sides of the Interstate. You essentially drive between them. Impossible to miss.

I do agree with you. I don't have a problem seeing them on the landscape. Adds variety to the endless and endless view of just farm fields.

[duster1979]

Originally Posted by capitalcityguy

You obviously haven't' drivin I-35 north to Minnesota lately. Near the last exit out of Iowa, there are two huge wind farms on BOTH sides of the Interstate. You essentially drive between them. Impossible to miss.

I was going to suggest that jm31828 should try to keep his eyes open while driving.

[Stavemaster]

Map of Wind Farms | Open Energy Information

Zoom in just about anywhere in Iowa north of I-80 and you'll see them all over the place.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Stavemaster

Map of Wind Farms | Open Energy Information

Zoom in just about anywhere in Iowa north of I-80 and you'll see them all over the place.

Why are few of them south of I-80. I'm guessing lower average wind speeds?

[atler8]

Generally speaking, there is a difference in terrain between southern Iowa & northern Iowa, the Loess Hills & Driftless Zone being notable exceptions. Although not an exact divider of the differing terrain types, I-80 is close enough to the terrain changeup that it could nevertheless be called "The Divider". LOL!
You can even see the difference within metro Des Moines. Ankeny, just north of Des Moines is relatively flat whereas the southern portions of the city of Des Moines are more rolling & Warren County in the south metro is a further continuation of that hilliness that extends on down to the Missouri state line.,
By contrast, the land is far more level in northern Iowa & I suspect that level land plays into the various demands of a wind farm better than does rolling land.

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by atler8

Generally speaking, there is a difference in terrain between southern Iowa & northern Iowa, the Loess Hills & Driftless Zone being notable exceptions. Although not an exact divider of the differing terrain types, I-80 is close enough to the terrain changeup that it could nevertheless be called "The Divider". LOL!
You can even see the difference within metro Des Moines. Ankeny, just north of Des Moines is relatively flat whereas the southern portions of the city of Des Moines are more rolling & Warren County in the south metro is a further continuation of that hilliness that extends on down to the Missouri state line.,
By contrast, the land is far more level in northern Iowa & I suspect that level land plays into the various demands of a wind farm better than does rolling land.

I believe you're right about the need for level land beside a stretch of higher connected ground being ideal for these wind farms. You can now follow on a diagonal plane hundreds of wind turbines from east central South Dakota across the border into Minnesota at around Lake Benton/Tyler and running southeast all the way down to I-80 west of Des Moines. From South Dakota through Minnesota and into Iowa this raise in the land with more level land abutting it on both sides is called Buffalo Ridge.

[atler8]

The name Buffalo Ridge as a name for that raised area is new to me so I'm glad to have that info. I can use it to do more research.
A lot of the change in terrain I mentioned earlier that sort of divides northern & southern Iowa into contrasting zones, is rooted in glacial occurences, as in which area was covered by which glacial episode, etc.
Moraines basically are geologic features where a glacier dropped it's load of rocks & soil that it was bearing from the far north country. There was a noticeable moraine in my home town in northern Iowa but the one I encountered in Guthrie County was the one that really made an impression on me the strongest. As we came over a rise that marked the end of a moraine, we left the gently rolling terrain behind & were suddenly in a much more hilly & beautiful landscape.
Also, over on east of Des Moines, I believe that the breakoff point for the last glacial episode is fairly evident in the topography. As one travels on I-80 in Jasper County near Newton, there is a lovely series of hills that the interstate route navigates through. South of that area, the countryside stays pretty much continually rolling and a part of the southern terrain I mentioned.
Do you have any moraines up in your area jmgg?

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by atler8

The name Buffalo Ridge as a name for that raised area is new to me so I'm glad to have that info. I can use it to do more research.
A lot of the change in terrain I mentioned earlier that sort of divides northern & southern Iowa into contrasting zones, is rooted in glacial occurences, as in which area was covered by which glacial episode, etc.
Moraines basically are geologic features where a glacier dropped it's load of rocks & soil that it was bearing from the far north country. There was a noticeable moraine in my home town in northern Iowa but the one I encountered in Guthrie County was the one that really made an impression on me the strongest. As we came over a rise that marked the end of a moraine, we left the gently rolling terrain behind & were suddenly in a much more hilly & beautiful landscape.
Also, over on east of Des Moines, I believe that the breakoff point for the last glacial episode is fairly evident in the topography. As one travels on I-80 in Jasper County near Newton, there is a lovely series of hills that the interstate route navigates through. South of that area, the countryside stays pretty much continually rolling and a part of the southern terrain I mentioned.
Do you have any moraines up in your area jmgg?

I can't say for sure as moraines is a new term to me. There's a county highway running north from Sioux Falls thru the town of Crooks up to Colman SD which is the highest point in the county. Everything west of this highway runs to a creek called Skunk Creek while everything east of the highway drains to the Sioux River. Along this highway a company called EnXco had secured land leases to build a wind turbine farm. They had also secured leases west of Sioux Falls in the Hartford SD area for a second wind farm. They started this process about 5 years ago, but abandoned it last year. I'm guessing there were issues in connecting and selling the power to Xcel Energy. They were going to pay land owners $ 3,500 per megawatt of turbine capacity installed on their property. Each turbine was going to be 1.5 or 2.0 megawatts thus the annual payment would have been as high as $ 7,000 per turbine.

In northeast SD up by the aptly named town of Summit is the north/south continental divide for North America. The rivers north of Summit (most notably the Red River and the Souris River) all drain north while rivers south of here such as the Minnesota River and headwaters of the Mississippi drain south. This continental divide is not straight across as there are rivers west and north such as the James River and Missouri River that drain south.