West Virginia has a second wind-energy project up and running. NedPower Mount Storm LLC's turbines are generating electricity along the Allegheny Front in Grant County.
West Virginia has a second wind-energy project up and running.
NedPower Mount Storm LLC's turbines are generating electricity along the Allegheny Front in Grant County.
Developers of the 264-megawatt project confirmed the project's status in response to reports from local residents that turbines appeared to be operating.
Karl R. Neddenien, a spokesman for Dominion Resources Inc., said that some of the turbines have been producing power since the first of the year.
Neddenien at first declined to confirm that information, and later refused to provide any details about how many turbines were operating.
"The number of units operating on any given day changes, given wind conditions, and the amount of energy generated also changes," Neddenien said.
PJM Interconnection, which manages the regional electrical grid, lists the NedPower project as "in service" as of the third quarter of 2007.
In late February, Dominion told its shareholders that the 164-megawatt first phase of NedPower was to be fully operational by June 2008. The second phase was expected to be fully operational by December 2008.
In December 2006, Dominion bought a 50 percent interest in a joint venture with Shell WindEnergy to develop the NedPower project.
West Virginia has a second wind-energy project up and running.
NedPower Mount Storm LLC's turbines are generating electricity along the Allegheny Front in Grant County.
Developers of the 264-megawatt project confirmed the project's status in response to reports from local residents that turbines appeared to be operating.
Karl R. Neddenien, a spokesman for Dominion Resources Inc., said that some of the turbines have been producing power since the first of the year.
Neddenien at first declined to confirm that information, and later refused to provide any details about how many turbines were operating.
"The number of units operating on any given day changes, given wind conditions, and the amount of energy generated also changes," Neddenien said.
PJM Interconnection, which manages the regional electrical grid, lists the NedPower project as "in service" as of the third quarter of 2007.
In late February, Dominion told its shareholders that the 164-megawatt first phase of NedPower was to be fully operational by June 2008. The second phase was expected to be fully operational by December 2008.
In December 2006, Dominion bought a 50 percent interest in a joint venture with Shell WindEnergy to develop the NedPower project.
The project is located on a 14-mile-long site just east of Mount Storm Lake in Grant County. The facility is eventually to include up to 200 wind turbines. Each is to be mounted on a 210- to 450-foot-high tower, with three 115-foot-long blades.
In June 2007, the state Supreme Court voted 4-1 to send back to circuit court a nuisance case seeking to block the NedPower project. No trial date has been set in that case.
Opponents have also filed a formal notice of intent to sue the project over possible damage to endangered bats and squirrels.
Previously, the 44 giant windmills at the Mountaineer Wind Energy Center on Backbone Mountain in Tucker County were the only wind towers operating in West Virginia.
Developers have proposed a variety of projects to expand wind power generation in West Virginia and across the region. They see strong winds along the state's eastern mountain ridges as a source of clean power to replace coal and help deal with the climate change crisis.
But opponents, including some local citizens, argue that wind power will make little difference in the nation's energy needs, while huge industrial wind "farms" will kill birds and bats, as well as damage scenic views. Reps. Nick J. Rahall and Alan Mollohan, both D-W.Va., also have been critical of wind power expansion, and a federal audit found little effective state regulation of the growing industry.
Last month, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy announced that it would oppose all large, utility-scale wind energy projects in the state unless "it is demonstrated that the power to be produced by the project would replace power which otherwise would be generated through the burning of coal."
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 348-1702.
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Coal is the future to an extent (especially for liquid transportation)...but for only a few more decades. We'll use what we can extract, but when it's all gone, it's all gone.