‘The wind’s gonna blow’: This farm in North Carolina is making produce and power

EDENTON, N.C. — From growing corn to producing power, North Carolina’s second wind farm is up and running, and it’s on an actual farm.

“It was a long process,” said Gene Jordan, a farmer from Edenton, North Carolina.

Jordan told Channel 9 Climate Reporter Michelle Alfini that in addition to corn, cotton, and soybeans, his farm will start generating electricity.

“We have the turbines, we have the source of income, we have the clean energy and it’s really taken almost no land,” Jordan said.

But it wasn’t easy. It took 11 years to develop the wind farm. Part of that is due to the challenges in the permitting process, and a state moratorium on wind.

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On Wednesday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper was in Edenton to push for clearer skies ahead for the wind industry.

“To increase renewable energy to fight climate change, but to also bring the economic development that we know these new industries are going to bring to our country,” Cooper said.

Event organizers in Chowan County say wind power doesn’t have to be political. State and local leaders with the Democratic and Republican parties both praised the economic impact of the Timbermill Wind Project. Once fully complete, the developers will be the largest taxpayers in the county.

“The wind’s gonna blow, the sun’s gonna shine. Why not use the wind blowing and the sun shining to create the energy that we need,” Jordan said.

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