December 30, 2016
New Hampshire

Antrim wind project prevails

By ABBY KESSLER | Monadnock Ledger-Transcript | Thursday, December 29, 2016 | www.ledgertranscript.com

After a seven-year fight for approval, state regulators approved a nine turbine wind project in Antrim.

Those in favor of the project view the ruling handed down by the state’s Site Evaluation Committee, or SEC, as a victory after years worth of discussion.

A similar 10-turbine project was struck down by the same committee, which is now made up of an entirely new set of members, years ago due to the project’s visual impacts. Antrim Wind Energy, whose parent company is Walden Green Energy, amended the project by eliminating one turbine and lowering another.

But some said those changes were not substantial enough.

“I feel that this new application is essentially the same as the last your committee heard for months last time,” Elsa Voelcker, a longtime resident of Antrim, said in a statement addressed to the state’s SEC.

Even though the state approved the project, some opponents say the fight is not over. Charles Levesque, who lives in Antrim, said in an interview with the Ledger-Transcript after the decision was announced earlier this month that he is waiting for a written order to be issued by state regulators, which will map out conditions the company has to follow before the project moves forward.

Once those have been put into writing, some say they will scour the document and respond accordingly.

SEC’s Administrator Pamela Monroe said on Tuesday that it has not yet issued a written order regarding the decision. She said they have just received transcripts of the proceedings, which were necessary to proceed with the order. The transcripts are posted on its website. Monroe said there is no estimated date when the committee will issue its order.​ Walden Green Energy’s Jack Kenworthy said in a statement issued after SEC’s decision that construction is slated to begin in the second or third quarter of 2017 with the site expected to be operational in 2018


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/12/30/antrim-wind-project-prevails/