Energy company wants to test wind
FAYETTEVILLE — A Chicago energy company wants to test Washington County’s wind to know if its commercially viable.
Invenergy wants the county’s planning board to allow the company to install two meteorological towers to test wind on Sunset Road east of Winslow.
Company representative Brandon Ferrall was not available Friday for comment but wrote about the company’s plans in a recent letter to the county planning office.
“The first step in any wind project is to test the wind. We believe there is a good wind resource … in Washington County,” Ferrall wrote in the letter.
The planning board has briefly discussed potential regulations regarding wind farms but has no rules specifically governing them yet, planning director Juliet Richey said.
The company is applying for a conditional-use permit because the county requires a permit for any developments aside from agricultural or a single-family home on at least 1 acre.
Ferrall wrote that the towers will be placed on private land and will transmit wind data via cell phone. The towers need to be up for at least a year but no longer than three years, he wrote.
Invenergy LLC is an energy company founded in 2001 that focuses on the development, ownership, operation and management of large-scale electricity generation assets in North American and Europe, according to the company’s Web site.
Invenergy’s electric generation assets primarily include large-scale wind energy and clean natural gas fueled electric generating sites.
By Christopher Spencer
16 November 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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