July 15, 2008
New York

Testing begins for possible wind-power site at Greenwood Lake

Wind power might be coming to the shores of southern Orange County’s largest lake.

A company that recently won approval to install a 111-foot turbine at Sullivan County Community College is now looking to build a small wind farm near Lions Field and the Department of Public Works building in Greenwood Lake.

Ultimately, the turbines could power most of the village.

“We could sell that power back to the grid,” Mayor Barbara Moore said, “which would provide village residents with a great discount on their electricity.”

The project is in very preliminary stages, with Manhattan-based Environmental Technologies just starting to test the area to see if there’s enough wind energy to harness.

If preliminary meteorological studies prove successful, the company will install a test turbine later this year.

Just how many turbines would actually be built, who would pay for them and what kind of financial partnership the company and village would strike are all unsettled.

“The hope is that the village and (Environmental Technologies) will partner,” said Don Perry, a member of the Greenwood Lake Commission and a green energy consultant. “There could be a village power authority that could get revenue by selling electricity to the grid.”

Initial plans calls for a 1.5-megawatt turbine that would power all the village’s municipal buildings. Since each turbine could power as many as 1,000 homes, it’s not a stretch to think that the entire village, with some 1,250 homes, could be wind-powered.

“But it all depends on the wind and how strong and how viable putting turbines on that site is,” he said.

By Matt King

Times Herald-Record

15 July 2008


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/07/15/testing-begins-for-possible-wind-power-site-at-greenwood-lake/