With wind turbine projects in 18 states, renewable energy developer Iberdrola has experienced a wide spectrum of site conditions, but those at its $400-million, 208-MW Amazon Wind Farm US East project are unlike anything the firm has ever encountered. Located south of the Great Dismal Swamp in northeastern North Carolina, the project site spans nearly 22,000 acres of drained swampland in Perquimans and Pasquotank counties.
“This area used to be underwater,” says Erik Lallum, Iberdrola’s vice president of construction. “As agriculture built up in the area, ditches and waterways were installed to drain the land so they could farm it productively. We’re building on a geophysical structure that we’ve never built on before.”