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Hamilton County eager for wind farm project to start
Published 2/19/2009 in News : Area coverage
By SHAJIA AHMAD
SYRACUSE — The Hamilton County Planning Commission has unanimously approved a motion to make a recommendation to the county commission for the approval of a conditional use permit for the construction of a wind farm.
Planning Commission members sought input from local residents before making the decision and were met with enthusiastic and resounding approval from the few dozen who attended a Wednesday night public hearing at Syracuse High School.
The permit is similar to a building permit, and if approved by the County Commission, will give Acciona, a global renewable energy development company, permission to begin construction on a $300 million wind farm in the county.
Officials from the Spanish-based company laid clear many of the project's details and a potential timeline for Bear Creek Wind Farm LLC, which will encompass 90 to 100 turbines standing on 10,400 acres of land south of County Road 25 upon completion. The wind turbines could produce up to 143 megawatts of power, they said.
"We see this project as being a real winner for you and for us," said Emily Sanders, a project developer with the company that has investments in six North American wind farms, totaling 403 megawatts of power.
Paul White, chairman of the Planning Commission, echoed the enthusiasm of the officials and the approval from residents.
"This community wants this project very badly," he said. "And now much of the groundwork has been done."
Under an agreement between the two parties, the county would receive $300,000 per year from Acciona's profits, a big boost for the small town, White said. On-site construction, which could begin in mid- to late-2009, would take eight to 10 months, Sanders said, and would create 200 temporary jobs. Once the project is complete, 10 to 15 full-time jobs will remain.
White said there has been some concern from area residents about the location and details of the wind farm's transmission lines, but those fears were assuaged by mapping and detailing those locations. The energy company also has agreed to erect turbines at least 1,000 feet away from occupied homes, one of several negotiations between landowners and county officials.
Kevin Martin, an environmental manager with the group, said long-term studies of the wildlife species of the designated area also have been conducted to avoid displacing or harming the land's natural habitat during development, construction and operation. The project, parts of which will span the Arkansas River, will not interrupt any current agricultural land use, he said. In addition, the wind turbines will not interfere with microwave, radio or cell phone signals. Several turbines will have lights in compliance with lighting codes but won't be concentrated in a particular area, the environmental manager added.
"It's not going to be a field of lights out there," Martin said.
The height of each grayish white standing turbine from the base to its top is 390 feet, and the blades are about eight meters in diameter in rotation. Dirt roads leading to the construction site will be widened to accompany the trucks that will carry the turbine parts. Acciona will put the roads back to their original width once the project is complete.
Globally, the company has installed about 5,500 megawatts of wind power in 13 countries as of mid-2008, about 15 percent of the global wind share.
Sanders said her billion-dollar energy company develops its own projects, designs its own turbines, communicates directly with stakeholders in the project including community members, finances its own projects and provides service on those projects once they are complete, sometimes utilizing the services of local companies for project construction, she added.
The $787 billion government stimulus package signed Tuesday by President Obama will pump an estimated $40 to $60 billion into renewable energy investments around the country over the next decade, the Associated Press reported.
That is good news for projects like this one, said Sanders, whose company will surely investigate whether it is eligible for any incentives, she said. In addition, new laws extend wind tax credits for at least another three years, she said.
The U.S. currently generates about 1 percent of its electric power from wind energy sources.
The government and power industry is seeking ways to raise that figure to 20 percent by 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Hamilton County commissioners could approve the conditional use permit at their March 10 meeting, said John Kennedy, Hamilton County's economic developer.
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