Cooper Farms breaks ground on turbine

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

When it comes to energy, Cooper Farms is going even greener. The company broke ground Monday on a third wind turbine for its Cooked Meats plant in Van Wert. When the turbine installation is completed, hopefully by the end of the year, wind will provide 75 percent of the plant’s electrical energy.

Cooper Farms CEO Jim Cooper said wind energy is a natural for the company and fits with the company’s philosophy of being environmentally responsible.

“We know it is vital that we are good stewards of the natural resources all around us,” Cooper said, adding that the company also wants to ensure that it provides “a good place for our children and grandchildren to live in the years to come.”

The wind turbines also provide a practical side for the Van Wert plant, since adding the third turbine would decrease the amount of energy the plant must purchase from other sources.

Cooper explained that the third wind turbine was needed because of a recent expansion of the Van Wert Cooked Meats plant.

“When we built the first two, we built them with the idea of supplying about 60 percent of our electric needs for our plant, and it did,” he said, adding that that figure decreased to 50 percent, though, when the plant recently installed two large pieces of equipment that increased electric usage from 10 million-12 million kilowatt hours to approximately 15 million KWH.

So far, the Van Wert plant is the only Cooper Farms using wind power as a source of electricity, but that could change in the future if the turbines prove to be cost-effective.

Cooper noted that the turbines, which are built by Energy One of Findlay, make Cooper Farms the largest private generator of wind energy in the state, while wind energy mirrors the company’s corporate thinking.

“Wind power is a natural, a good thing. It’s been our mentality,” Cooper noted. “We have an ongoing commitment to providing the best product while incurring the least environmental impact in our communities.”

Ohio Senator Cliff Hite also spoke briefly during the groundbreaking ceremony, while Chase Francis, the Northwest Ohio Regional liaison for Ohio Governor John Kasich, presented Jim Cooper and his siblings, Gary and Dianne, with a proclamation honoring the event.

The three Coopers then shoveled some dirt to officially break ground on the project, and Jim Cooper went an extra step, climbing into the cab of a front-loader to move some more soil.

The family owned and operated company, founded in 1938, currently employs approximately 1,300 people.