July 10, 2012
Michigan

County projected to have 160 turbines by end of year

By Kate Hessling, Assistant News Editor | Huron Daily Tribune | www.michigansthumb.com 10 July 2012

HURON COUNTY – The local area is expected to have 160 wind turbines in operation by the end of the year, according to projections from the Huron County Building and Zoning Office.

Jeff Smith, director of Huron County Building and Zoning, said that number includes the 78 turbines that currently are in operation in Huron County.

The other 82 are turbines are under permit for construction. They include 40 that are going to be built in the DTE Sigel Wind Farm in Bloomfield and Sigel townships, and nine turbines that are going to be built in the DTE McKinley Wind Farm in McKinley Township.

DTE Energy sought to build an additional one to two turbines in a different portion of McKinley Township, but a resolution creating that wind overlay district was not approved last month by the Huron County Board of Commissioners.

That will not affect the construction of the other nine turbines in McKinley Township.

Also included in the turbines under construction this year are 33 that are going to be built in Exelon Harvest Wind II Wind Farm in Chandler, Oliver and McKinley townships.

A big incentive for wind developers to get projects online by the end of the year is to secure the federal renewable energy production credit, which expires Dec. 31. The credit, which is 2.1 cents per kilowatt-hour, is the primary federal incentive for wind energy.

Smith estimates the 160 turbines expected to be in operation by the end of the year will have a total nominal output of 252.4 megawatts. He stressed that is nominal output – not necessarily peak output.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/07/10/county-projected-to-have-160-turbines-by-end-of-year/