April 29, 2011
New York

Port Jervis hears pitch on wind turbine project

By Jessica Cohen, For the Gazette, www.recordonline.com 29 April 2011By Jessica Cohen, For the Gazette, www.recordonline.com 29 April 2011

PORT JERVIS – Port Jervis Common Council members discussed a plan to harness the wind, among other ideas wafting around the Monday night meeting.

Matt Vanderbrook, senior project and sales manager at Sustainable Energy Developments Inc. in Ontario, N.Y., gave a presentation on a possible single wind turbine project on Point Peter that would power Port Jervis municipal buildings, and perhaps provide meter “offsets” for water treatment plants and landfills, optimally with yearly savings of $100,000 to $200,000 per year.

How likely would that result be?

“We don’t know. That’s why we’re here,” said Vanderbrook. “It’s a risky venture. We work with people and don’t oversell.”

The Community Development Association had made a request for a proposal from SED and met with Vanderbrook a month before.

A feasibility study would cost between $65,000 and $85,000, depending partly on whether building a wind measurement tower is necessary, rather than just “virtual wind data.”

The whole project would cost an estimated $2.5 million, in addition to a likely $4 million grant from the New York state Energy Research and Development Authority.

Turbine use might repay the cost in 10 years, according to Vanderbrook. With a single turbine, any “overage” could be sold at retail rate rather than the half-price wholesale rate that would be required with larger scale energy production.

Councilman George Belcher worried about the bird sanctuary that obstructed a previous wind farm plan, but Vanderbrook said a single turbine would have “minimal impact.”

“We would monitor birds in the area and other effects,” he said.

The council will vote on whether to proceed further with an analysis.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/04/29/port-jervis-hears-pitch-on-wind-turbine-project/