Matt Richmond, BINGHAMTON
A company formed by Tompkins County business owners and supporters of renewable energy has taken control of a wind farm in the Town of Enfield. As the Innovation Trail’s Matt Richmond reports, the new company aims to keep the wind farm under local control:
The Black Oak Wind Farm would include about 12 turbines and produce about half of the power used by households in Tompkins County. Project manager Marguerite Wells got involved six years ago.
“Our goal all along has been for it to be a community-owned and operated company,” said Wells.
She says the usual model is for a larger company to come in and buy out the smaller company that began the project. Wells would not comment on alternative funding sources but said building a wind farm in New York State is notoriously difficult.
“If you can get it done in New York, you can get it done anywhere,” says Wells, “just because New York’s regulatory environment is more difficult and more complicated and more expensive than most other places.”
The new company is called Black Oak Wind Farm LLC. They hope to start producing power by 2014.
Posted on January 3, 2012 by Gregory Keeler
0