Acciona reduces turbine numbers; Updated plans have 53 windmills, not 96
CAPE VINCENT — St. Lawrence Wind Farm developer Acciona has shrunk its proposal from 96 turbines to 53.
Acciona showed off the new maps for the wind power development at a public forum at the village fire hall Thursday afternoon and evening.
Project manager Pete Zedick said the winnowing was a result of the environmental studies and feedback from its draft environmental impact statements.
“We’ve done a lot of work to comply with the requirements of the town and take environmental and land constraints into account,” he said.
The turbines will be 1.5-megawatt turbines, making the project yield 79.5 megawatts, and reach 384 feet tall.
Acciona is still working on a number of remaining studies for the project’s supplemental draft environmental impact statement. The statement is a step in the state environmental quality review process, which will be followed by site plan review. The town Planning Board is responsible for approving the statement and site plan.
“We’re trying to address all the concerns from the DEIS,” Mr. Zedick said.
Mr. Zedick said the goal is to submit the supplemental statement sometime in the fall.
The updated map showed the possible transmission line route as over the regional water line, run by the Development Authority of the North Country. The line is in an abandoned New York Central Railroad corridor.
Acciona is working with DANC and Cape Vincent Wind Farm developer BP Alternative Energy to share the route. The two farms would use the same poles, but have separate wires. Acciona would use 115-kilovolt wires.
The updated plans also show two possible sites for substations and four possible sites for an operation and maintenance building.
Dozens of town residents milled through the fire hall, looking at photographic simulations and the maps and asking questions about the project.
“Will I see them?” asked Earl S. Treese, village resident. “They’re behind me, so they shouldn’t bother me, but I’ll probably see the tops of three.”
He said he visited Lowville and looked at the turbines there.
“I didn’t like the looks of theirs,” he said. “There were too many, I thought.”
John L. Byrne, town resident and member of Wind Power Ethics Group, said, “I found it very interesting that nobody could tell me what the noise level is from the turbine. That’s a major concern of a lot of the citizens here.”
He said his main concern is health harm from turbines, which could correlate to the amount of noise coming from a turbine.
Gary J. King, a town resident and member of Voters for Wind, supports the project.
“I think the whole town will benefit,” he said.
Paul C. Mason, who would have four turbines according to the new map, agreed. “I think there’s a lot of misconceptions out there about wind power,” he said.
For example, he said the original number of 96 was a starting place. “It’s just like I plant more corn than I need, knowing I’m not going to harvest all of it because you lose some,” he said.
By Nancy Madsen
Times Staff Writer
29 August 2008
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