April 3, 2008
Ohio
Ohio
A German company is looking into the possibility of placing wind turbines in Loudon and Hopewell townships.
“There’s an opportunity there in the western part of Seneca County,” said Dale Arnold, director of energy services for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.
To help people understand the possibilities of wind power, he said Seneca County Farm Bureau is hosting an informational meeting 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Public Safety Building on the fairgrounds.
“We want to brief community leaders and interested citizens on what opportunities are there and how to work effectively with wind turbine developers,” Arnold said.
JW Great Lakes Wind of Cleveland, the same company planning a wind farm in Wood County, has been in contact with landowners about lease agreements, he said.
“There’s also another development company working with farmers just across the Huron County line,” he said.
During the meeting, Arnold said he plans to update residents on federal and state initiatives that identify communities such as Seneca County as key areas for energy development. He also plans to report on how several Ohio communities already are working with energy developers to establish utility-scale wind energy projects.
In addition, he plans to talk about how project developers, government leaders, utilities and community members can work together to create and implement energy development plans.
“Alternative and renewable energy development offers local communities a variety of new economic opportunities,” Arnold said. “All parties interested in these projects bring unique resources that, used in combination, create a win-win situation for everyone involved. These collaborative efforts and partnerships can generate success.”
Arnold has been OFBF’s director for energy development since 1995.
He represents farm and rural residential energy consumers on the Ohio Department of Development’s Ohio Wind Work Group and Biomass Task Force, as well as consumer advisory boards with Columbia Gas of Ohio, American Electric Power and Vectren. He is a member of the Green Energy Ohio board of directors.
During the past several years, he has been involved with community electric and natural gas aggregation projects, utility-scale and on-site renewable energy generation and creating public policy that provides more opportunities for consumers to control energy costs.
According to the JW Great Lakes Wind Web site, the parent company is Juwi International, a German company specializing in wind and solar power development. Founded by two German owners of family farms in 1996, most of the company’s projects have been in Germany and France, but many projects are under way in Costa Rica, Argentina and the Czech Republic, as well as the United States.
By Vicki Johnson
3 April 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/04/03/german-company-looking-to-start-wind-farms-in-two-townships/