From staff reports The horizon broken by dozens and dozens of wind turbines is a common sight throughout Oklahoma, but in some states, it remains a rarity as the wind industry becomes a larger and growing source of renewable power in the U.S.
Mississippi is an example as the state’s first utility-scale wind project, a 184.5 megawatt wind farm, is just beginning operations. It will power Amazon data centers and logistics hubs, according to Electrek, a site that tracks, analyzes and breaks news on the transition from fossil-fuel transport to electric transport, it’s website states.
The Mississippi wind farm became operational last week and is called Delta Wind. It also has the ability to produce enough electricity to power 80,000 homes.
Located on 14,000 acres in Tunica County near the Arkansas and Tennessee borders, and operated by AES Corporation, the wind farm has the reported tallest onshore wind turbines in the country. Canary Media reported that the 41 wind turbines reach 692 feet at their highest points.
It might not be the last wind farm in Mississippi as Amazon plans to invest $10 billion to build two data center complexes in the state. It is considered the single largest capital investment in the history of Mississippi.
North Carolina is another state with a small wind industry. Its only wind farm opened in 2017 and was also the first in the southeast part of the U.S. The 104-turbine wind farm, known as Amazon Wind, has the capacity to power 61,000 homes.