Published: May 15, 2009 11:53 pm      

Wind farm dispute in U.S. court

A storm is swirling around an 18-turbine wind farm outside Berlin, which is at the center of a multimillion-dollar federal lawsuit.

Project developers Lookout Windpower Holding Co. of Missouri and Freestream Capital LLC are suing farm owner Edison Mission Group of Irvine, Calif., and four other companies.

The plaintiffs say they still are owed $10.5 million on the $11.5 million deal.

The Lookout Wind Project in Northampton and Brothersvalley townships was dedicated in February.

The 18-turbine Lookout Wind project can generate 38 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 12,600 homes.

In 2006, Lookout Holding and Mission Wind – a company affiliated with Edison Mission – began a business relationship to develop the wind farm. A $1 million installment then was paid to the plaintiffs.

“Now defendants refuse to pay any amount, even though it is undisputed and agreed that at least $5.69 million is owed the plaintiffs,” according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Johnstown.

Todd Ruskamp of Kansas City, Mo., an attorney for the defendants, did not return several calls seeking comment on the suit.

Lookout Holding claims that it sold half an ownership interest in the project to Mission Wind Pennsylvania, one of the defendants, but was cheated on the price.

“Mission Wind and its parent company, Edison, fraudulently misrepresented many of the figures they provided for the buyout formula,” the suit said.

They thus fraudulently induced Lookout Holding and Freestream to sell for a too-low buyout price, the lawsuit contends.

The windmills were commercially operational by Oct. 20, 2008, the suit said.

In December, Edison Mission and the other defendants admitted to owing $5.69 million but said they did not owe the remaining $4.82 million, the suit said. That’s because, they claimed, the plaintiffs were responsible for “increased construction costs” and costly “delays in the construction schedule.”

Lookout Holding and Freestream are claiming breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation. In all, they are seeking in excess of $19.5 million and want a jury trial.

The Lookout Wind Project was one of two in Somerset County owned by Edison Mission that were dedicated in February. Along with the Forward Wind Project in Shade Township, they represent a $75 million investment for Edison Mission. The company is the seventh-largest developer of wind-energy sites in the U.S. and has about two dozen projects operating or under construction in nine states.

Electricity produced at the Lookout site is being sold into the competitive regional power grid, Edison Chief Executive Officer Ron Litzinger said in February.

The windmills have an operational lifespan of 30 years.