October 9, 2015
New Hampshire

Antrim Wind developers submit application

By Meghan Foley, Sentinel Staff | The Keene Sentinel | October 9, 2015 | www.sentinelsource.com

ANTRIM – The future of a wind farm off Route 9 in town is now in the hands of the N.H. Site Evaluation Committee.

Antrim Wind Energy officials announced recently that they’ve filed an application with the state agency to build nine wind turbines on the Tuttle Hill and Willard Mountain ridge line. The facility would generate 28.8 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to power approximately 12,300 New Hampshire homes, according to the Oct. 2 application.

The cost of building the wind turbines and their supporting infrastructure is expected to be $63 million to $65 million, the application said, and construction is scheduled to start in October 2016 pending approval.

A tentative date of December 2017 has been picked for when the wind farm would begin operating, according to the application.

John B. “Jack” Kenworthy, chief executive officer of Eolian Renewable Energy, said in a news release that those involved with the project are excited to see it move forward.

“This is the best sited wind project in the state of New Hampshire,” he said. “It has enjoyed long standing support from the town of Antrim and we continue to have a very strong and positive relationship with both the leadership and the residents of the town. We have worked closely with the community to advance our goals for low cost clean energy generation in a way that benefits everyone.”

The Portsmouth-based company is one of the owners and developers of the project along with Walden Green Energy LLC.

This is the second time Antrim Wind Energy officials have filed for a certificate of site and facility for the project. The Site Evaluation Committee denied the group’s initial application in 2012 citing concerns about the effects the turbines could have on the look of the surrounding natural area.

That version of the project had 10 wind turbines producing 30 megawatts of electricity, and was bigger than the one being proposed now.

A subcommittee of that Site Evaluation Committee voted 5 to 2 in July for the full committee to take jurisdiction of the proposed wind farm, and issued a written decision affirming the vote on Oct. 1. If the subcommittee hadn’t taken such action, the approval process would have fallen to Antrim officials.

The subcommittee’s decision also cleared the way for Antrim Wind to start the approval process from scratch.