October 24, 2014
Ohio

Unbuilt wind farm project sold

Ed Gebert, DHI Media Editor | Delphos Herald | Friday, October 24, 2014 | www.delphosherald.com

PAULDING – Northwest Ohio may not have seen the end of new wind farms in the area. DHI Media has learned that the Northwest Ohio Wind Project in Blue Creek and Latty townships of Paulding County has changed hands.

Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC, a leading private investment firm focused on energy infrastructure, has announced that an affiliate has completed agreements to acquire the 250 megawatt (MW) project. The move was confirmed by Pat Tucker of The Abernathy MacGregor Group. Financial terms were not disclosed.

This project has already been approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) as 100 MW in power including up to 59 wind turbines. It was formerly owned by Trische Resources, Inc. According to an OPSB spokesman, the project was approved on Dec. 16, 2013, with construction activities beginning the next day. It was approved and categorized as being under construction before the new rules for construction took affect in June. This means the project can be set up using the same rules for the distance a turbine must be set back from other buildings that were used during the construction of the two completed wind farms in the area: Timber Road Wind Farm and Blue Creek Wind Farm. The same would apply to noise regulations.

The OPSB representative stated that he believed “a couple of access roads” associated with the project were built.

According to a release from Starwood Energy Group, the first phase, consisting of 100 MW, is expected to achieve commercial operations by late 2015.

“We look forward to working together with the local communities to make this project a success,” said Himanshu Saxena, Managing Director of Starwood Energy Group. “We are committed to developing such energy infrastructure projects, which will provide clean and competitively-priced power for many years to come.”

Northwest Wind formerly had an office open in Grover Hill to coordinate land leases for the project. The project was designed to use an existing 138-kilovolt AEP transmission line which runs through the southern portion of the project area with the point of connection at the Haviland substation, just south of Haviland. A local public hearing on the project was held at Wayne Trace High School on Oct. 22, 2013.

The OPSB opinion states, “Within the project area, 37.9 acres of agricultural district land would be temporarily disturbed, with 1.6 acres of agricultural district land experiencing permanent impacts primarily due to placement of turbines, electric collection lines, access roads, and/or crane route.”