National Wind Watch: Wind Energy News » Wind farm link to grid complete

MALONE – The New York Power Authority announced on Thursday that work was completed on a substation in Chateaugay that will transfer energy from the Jericho Rise Wind Farm to the New York power grid.

The Willis substation in Chateaugay will help send 77.7 megawatts of renewable energy from the Jericho Rise Wind farm to the state power grid.

The wind farm, located in the towns of Chateaugay and Belmont, is owned by EDP Renewables North America LLC. NYPA energized the equipment, including 37 wind turbine generators, and placed the project into commercial operation earlier this month after it was linked to the Willis substation.

“There’s a significant amount of effort and coordination that goes into connecting these wind farms into our transmission system – from planning all the way through to construction oversight, testing and commissioning,” said Gil C. Quiniones, NYPA president and CEO in a press release from NYPA. “NYPA is always looking to support the growth of renewable generation in New York State and find new and innovative ways to support the efforts of renewable energy developers.”

The town of Chateaugay hosts 29 of the 37 towers, with the remaining eight located in Bellmont.

The Jericho Rise Wind Farm is the sixth wind farm in Northern New York that NYPA has connected to its statewide transmission system. The effort is helping to bring more renewable energy to customers in the New York City area, where the majority of the state’s power is consumed.

The wind farm is a participant in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard, which requires 50 percent of all electricity used in New York to come from renewable sources by 2030.

The facility is also consistent with the Governor’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) strategy to build a “cleaner, more resilient and affordable” energy system in New York. Increasing access to renewables and other distributed energy resources is a major component of REV.

The Jericho Rise wind farm project was first proposed roughly 15 years ago but had lain dormant since 2009, when then-developer Horizon Wind Energy of Houston put the project on hiatus. It was revived in late 2014, when Gov. Cuomo announced it was one of four renewable energy projects that would share in $206 million made available through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

In the interim, Horizon had been purchased by Energias de Portugal, which is developing the project through its EDP Renewables subsidiary. Within about seven months of the funding announcement, EDP had filed a notice of intent to move forward with the project, which had originally been proposed as a 53-turbine facility.

Work on the project began in April, with the clearing of access roads and turbine sites. At the time, company officials said they hoped to have the turbines operational by November, but a delay in the receipt of a required permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers forced the developers to suspend work for roughly a month.

EDP Renewables signed a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with the Franklin County Industrial Development Agency last month that distributes about $310,000 per year among the towns, Franklin County and the Chateaugay Central School District. The towns would also split an additional “host community” payment of about $389,000 per year under the agreement.