New Generation of Farms Traditional Cache
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New Generation of Farming........Easy park and grab....
This cache is located in the middle of farm country. If you look around as you are headed through this area you will see different types of farms. There are cash crop farms, where the farmer grows different types of crops like sugar beets, corn, soybeans, wheat and so on. We have a large number of dairy farms and feeder steer farms. You may also see locations where hogs and chickens are raised.
This cache is also located on the outer edge of the Harvest Wind Farm. This is the next generation of farms. While at this location, if you look west you will see Michigan's first commercial wind mill farm. These windmills are producing electricity which will help us reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
They are placed in fields where crops are grown so they do not end up with alot of wasted land. The farmers still grow crops all around the base of the windmills. This wind farm is located in Huron County's Oliver and Chandler townships. The wind farm is owned by John Deere Wind Energy. The electricity they produce is sold to Wolverine Power Cooperative in Cadillac Michigan. Farmers who leased their land for a windmill plot will share in the sale of power generated by the windmill.
This wind farm consists of 32 Vestas V82 wind turbines, each capable of producing 1.65 megawatts of electricity. The total project capacity will be 52.8 megawatts. Thats enough electricity to power more than 15,000 homes. This project costs around 90 million dollars. This site spreads over a 5 mile irregular area. These windmills stand at a height of 393 feet. Each one weighs 283 tons. A blade from one of these windmills has a length of 131 feet. There are three blades on each winmill. They need 7.9 mile per hour wind to run. Most times of the day they can be seen running. Only when it is very still out will they stop turning. They where brought into operation in march 2008.
The State of Michigan has issued new requirements that states electric providers must meet their energy demand by generating 10% of that demand from renewable resources. Currently Michigan ranks 14th. in the country in the development of wind energy. In January 2007 Lakers School District brought their three 65 KW wind turbines online.
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