Brisk winds across the Illinois plains began blowing power into the Tennessee Valley this week when TVA connected with an Illinois wind generator capable of generating 300 megawatts of power.
The Streator Cayuga Ridge wind park in Livingston County, Ill., owned by Iberdrola Renewables Inc., is the first of seven wind suppliers the Tennessee Valley Authority has contracted with for renewable power from the Midwest. Collectively, the new wind generation should supply power to 325,000 homes.
"Activation of this new wind-power source is an important milestone in our plans to expand TVA's clean and renewable energy options," TVA Senior Vice President John Trawick said.
Stocks recover from recent slide
A dose of good economic news sent stocks sharply higher Wednesday and erased the Dow Jones industrials' big plunge of last week.
The Dow rose 148 points to return to where it stood before last week's tumble that briefly took the average down nearly 1,000 points. The Nasdaq composite recorded a 2.1 percent gain.
Analysts say the rebound reflects growing confidence that Europe's debt problems are contained for now.