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FROM ADA ICON - When you first think of a farm, you usually think, grain or livestock.

Just east of Ada – you can see it from State Route 235 – there's a farm that's a different animal, harvesting a different crop.

The Hog Creek wind farm, officially known as the Hog Creek Wind Project, is a farm located within several farms that grow and raise grain and livestock. Hog Creek Wind Project harvests the wind and sells it as energy. Its parent company is EDP Renewables.

The energy supplier went live in 2017. It operates 30 turbines and each can generation 2.5 megawatts of power. That power flows immediately to the AEP substation located on the wind project land.

Hog Creek project has an installed capacity of 66 megawatts (MW), enough to power approximately 18,000 average Ohio homes.

Each of the turbines has an enclosed 300-foot ladder from ground level reaching to the top. According to Eric Rivera, operations manager of the project, a three-year maintenance to the turbines is currently in process.

The Hog Creek project extend approximately 10 to 15 square miles and its main office, located just off County Road 95 in Hardin County's Washington Township, is located in the Hardin Northern School District.

Each turbine is one-half mile apart from the next. Each has the ability to turn 300 miles per hour. 

Rivera explained that when it is too windy the turbines have a sensor that will shut them down. The turbines have the ability to “yaw,” meaning they can twist or oscillate as the wind changes direction. Each turbine cost between $1.5 and $2 million.

Energy created by the turbines have underground lines connected directly to AEP’s substation. From the substation, the power goes to the power company’s grid. 

Rivera says that the company is conscious of large birds and if a bald eagle or golden eagle, for example, is sighted between 800 and 1,000 meters from one of the turbines, that turbine shuts down.

EDP Renewables is a globe company and is the world fourth-largest wind energy producer. It operates 13 countries in addition to the United States.