October 9, 2014
New York

Community-owned wind farm seeks investors

Andrew Casler, The Ithaca Journal | October 9, 2014 | www.democratandchronicle.com

A project calling itself the state’s first community-owned wind farm, Black Oak Wind Farm, opened for a new investment round to New York companies and residents.

Meetings will be held in Rochester and Canandaigua, Ontario County, to explain the project and the investment options.

The project aims to establish seven, 475-foot tall, 1.7-megawatt turbines on Black Oak Road in Enfield, Tompkins County. The wind farm will generate enough electricity to power 5,000 homes, according to Black Oak’s website.

The investment opportunity comes in two parts, according to a news release. The current round is open only to accredited New York investors, and the next round is scheduled to open in the fall for non-accredited investors.

An accredited investor is a term delineating wealthy individuals and organizations such as banks that are permitted to invest in certain types of higher-risk investments.

An institution rated with AA credit is purchasing all the power output from the project for 10 years, the news release said.

There are 120 households who are now owners in the project – and the majority of them live within 25 miles of the project, Black Oak’s website said.

The 10-year-old project shrunk from 15-20 megawatts to 12.6 megawatts in 2013, and with the General Electric turbine contract, it’s down to 11.9 megawatts. The project’s total cost will run between $35 million and $40 million.

Groundbreaking is aimed for spring 2015, Project Manager Marguerite Wells said last month.

ACASLER@IthacaJournal.com

Twitter.com/AndrewCasler

If you go

Meetings to discuss the Black Oak project will be held:

• 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday at the New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua.

• 5 to 6:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Rochester Plaza Hotel & Conference Center, 70 State St.

For more information, go to blackoakwindny.com.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/10/09/community-owned-wind-farm-seeks-investors/