Amazon goes in on wind energy farm in rural Indiana

FOWLER, Ind. (AP) – The cloud computing arm of Amazon.com is teaming up with an energy company to build more than 60 wind turbines northwest of Lafayette, Indiana.

The Journal & Courier reports Amazon Web Services announced a 13-year deal with Pattern Energy Group to construct the wind farm in rural Benton County. It’ll be the fourth phase of an existing farm and will be operated by Pattern Energy.

The Amazon subsidiary says the farm could open by January 2016 and would power the equivalent of 46,000 homes. The company said in November that it hopes to someday use only renewable energy, but the newspaper reports the size of the Indiana project’s impact isn’t clear.

Benton County’s economic development director says 150 to 180 construction workers will be needed to build the wind farm.