National Wind Watch: Wind Energy News » Informational session on Deer River Wind Farm set for next week

COPENHAGEN – An informational session on the proposed 40-turbine Deer River Wind Farm has been set for next week.

The meeting on the wind project, being proposed by Iberdrola Renewables in the towns of Pinckney, Harrisburg and Montague, will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Harrisburg town hall, 7886 Cobb Road.

“We’ll have various team members at the meeting to meet people and answer questions about the project, particularly around the lengthy permitting process and site evaluation research we’re just beginning to undertake,” Iberdrola spokesman Paul N. Copleman said. “In order to better understand the environmental and engineering needs and to comply with the state’s comprehensive permitting procedures, there’s a lot of work to be done, and we want to include the community in that process.”

Mr. Copleman said the session should be fairly informal and conversational, with attendees able to talk with various team members about the project following a more formal overview.

Iberdrola this spring was permitted to install a 197-foot-tall tower off Route 177 in Pinckney, near the Harrisburg town border, at the Deer River Ranch owned by Zeager Partnership Ltd. of Middletown, Pa.

According to a Public Involvement Program plan filed with the Public Service Commission, the project is expected to include 40 turbines in the three Lewis County towns, as well as a transmission line that would cross into the town of Rodman in Jefferson County.

The proposed wind farm is just west of the 195-turbine Maple Ridge Wind Farm in the towns of Martinsburg, Harrisburg and Lowville, which is part-owned by Iberdrola.

The company, under the auspices of Atlantic Wind LLC, in 2007 also proposed a 39-turbine project called the Roaring Brook Wind Farm on 5,280 acres in the town of Martinsburg just south of Maple Ridge. That project – slated to include 30 turbines on land owned by Zeager Partnership and nine on adjacent parcels – received site plan approval from the Martinsburg town Planning Board in December 2009. The company in summer 2010 delayed construction indefinitely, but it remains an active project.