Iowa county expected to pass moratorium after wind developer asks to build 656-foot turbines

An Iowa county is expected to pass a moratorium on wind-energy development after a proposal by a developer included 650-foot-high turbines.

After hearing the proposal, Muscatine County Supervisor Scott Sauer said turbines that size are going to create problems that people in the county haven’t yet considered,  according to the Iowa County Dispatch.

The moratorium that county staff have drafted will be in effect while the county, in southeast Iowa, revises its rules for wind developments.

The moratorium and potential revisions that may come from it, are partly a result of complaints from residents over a wind farm with 60 turbines that will reach 656 feet in height at the tip of the blades, the newspaper also reports.

In the past 20 years, the size of turbines has grown substantially.

The first turbines by MidAmerican Energy, which has built 3,400 turbines across 33 Iowa counties, were 233-feet tall at the tip of the blades.