October 11, 2006
New York

New information guide for Maple Ridge Wind Farm

There are 195 towers, each nearly 400 feet high and 260 feet wide. Each tower can produce enough power for 560 homes. Combined, there will be enough to power all of Lewis, Jefferson, and St. Lawrence Counties.

You’ll find basic facts like this in the Maple Ridge Wind Farm Fact Sheet that was created by the Lewis County Cornell Cooperative Extension Office.

Cornell Cooperative Extension Executive Director Michele Ledoux said, “Things that let people know that if they want to come up here and look at the wind towers and check out Lewis County and visit the county for a day, they can actually look at this fact sheet and find out.”

Looking at the fact sheet, you’ll see the project as a whole cost $380 million, covers 21,000 acres of land, and can provide 2% of all residential power for the state.

Driving through Lewis County, you’ll notice several of the towers aren’t spinning. That’s because at any time, up to 10 of the towers are scheduled for daily maintenance.

“I thought it was done extremely well. Cornell Cooperative does a tremendous job in everything they do. They take their time in their research, they check their facts, and know the data is correct,” said Lee Hinkleman, the project communications manager.

Ledoux said, “It’s been a very interesting project to watch, and it’s been a well-done project. It certainly has been an educational thing to have in Lewis County.”

While the fact sheet points out many of the positives of the project, there are negatives that listed. Poor television reception, loud noise, and birds flying into the spinning blades have all been problems.

Ledoux says during her study she found everyone to be working hard to correct and limit those problems.

news10now.com


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2006/10/11/new-information-guide-for-maple-ridge-wind-farm/