U.S. Town Powered Completely By Wind

The entire town of 1,300 residents in Rock Port, Missouri receives electricity via wind power. The residents will be offered the same electricity rates for the next 20 years.

The Missouri town has four wind turbines that generate enough electricity for the 1,300 residents. Jim Crawford, a natural resource engineer at the University of Missouri Extension in Columbia, is happy about his town contributing a part for the environment. Besides this town, the surrounding three counties also use 75 turbines. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the northwest Missouri has the state's highest concentrations of wind resources and contains a number of locations that are potentially suitable for utility-scale wind development. Crawford told LiveScience:

We're farming the wind, which is something that we have up here…The payback on a per-acre basis is generally quite good when compared to a lot of other crops, and it's as simple as getting a cup of coffee and watching the blades spin.

The Missouri wind farms are expected to bring in more than $1.1 million in county real estate taxes and will be paid by Wind Capital Group, which will manage these four turbines. The residents are also expected to gain additional benefit by getting the same electricity rates for the next 15 to 20 years because of the wind farms. The land owners will also generate additional income by leasing their farms for the wind turbines.