LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Gratiot County approves second company for wind farm permits 

Credit:  By Phyllis McCrossin, Sun Special Writer, The Morning Sun, www.themorningsun.com 9 February 2011 ~~

Despite near blizzard conditions last week, area residents braved the weather to attend a special use permit hearing for Gratiot County’s second proposed wind farm set to be placed in Elba, Emerson, Hamilton, Lafayette, Newark and North Star townships.

The hearing was held at Town and County Recreation Center in Ithaca on Feb. 1.

The permits for Beebe Community Wind Farms LLC were approved unanimously, according to Mark Hull, project manager for Beebe Community Wind Farms.

Hull and several other Gratiot County residents have been working on the wind farm project for the past several years. The company has been securing leases from farmer since 2007.

Although the weather kept many away from the hearing, those who were in attendance were supportive of the project, according to Chris Brooks, project development manager for Nordex, Inc.

Nordex has partnered with Beebe Community Wind Farms to manufacture the turbines and assist in finalizing project development tasks for the proposed wind farm.

“The landowners were pleased and excited about the project,” Brooks said. “We had a couple of the landowners asking us when we were going to speak to them about leasing their land. We are moving ahead aggressively with our land lease agreements.”

Three additional 300 foot wind measurements towers are set to be installed this winter, according to Brooks. The company is working on placing the first tower this week.

The next step for the project is securing a power purchase agreement with a power company, according to Hull.

“We are actively speaking with potential buyers for the power now,” Brooks said.

Brooks added the construction of the wind farms is tentatively slated to begin by the end of this year.

“The turbines must be in service by 2012 to receive government tax credits,” Brooks said.

Hull noted the project has made a lot of progress over the past few weeks and is pleased with the work that has been done.

The project has moved into additional townships over the past few weeks because they are going with larger turbines.

“Larger turbines need more space,” Brooks said. “To make them more efficient they need to be spread out further.”

Hull noted farmers like the idea of spacing the turbines further apart as there is less interference with farming. He said the next step in the permit process will include site plan reviews.

“We will be staking out the towers so farmers know where they are going. Then we will work to get the site plans approved,” Hull said.

Brooks said that if the towers are built as currently sized they will be the largest in Michigan.

Hull said he was pleased with the progress on the project and credits the work done by Greater Gratiot Development, Inc., to bring wind energy to the county and with the county planning commission on the work that had been done to create zoning ordinances for wind farms.

“The county really does have a good system in place for permitting wind farms,” Hull said. “They have all worked cooperatively on the process.”

Source:  By Phyllis McCrossin, Sun Special Writer, The Morning Sun, www.themorningsun.com 9 February 2011

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon