Work begins off Route 30 at sprawling wind farm site

BY MIKE FAHER
The Tribune-Democrat

REELS CORNERS July 10, 2009 12:15 am

— Twelve miles of underground cable, 15 miles of new road and 35 towers standing more than 260 feet tall will add up to Somerset County’s newest wind farm.
Local officials and developers gathered Thursday on a breezy hilltop in eastern Somerset County to celebrate the start of construction at the Stony Creek wind-turbine property just off Route 30.
A crew of more than 200 is expected to have the site fully operational by year’s end.
“Within the next week, we’ll be erecting the turbines,” said Steve Trenholm, chief executive officer of E.ON Climate & Renewables, which is developing the project.
Stony Creek Wind Farm will consist of 35 General Electric turbines cranking out a total of 52.5 megawatts of power, enough juice for about 16,000 homes, Trenholm said.
The project has been in development for four years, in part because of its size and location.
The site, measuring 4,313 acres, will sprawl over three townships: Allegheny, Shade and Stonycreek. The latter municipality will host 28 of the turbines, with four in Allegheny and three in Shade.
E.ON is leasing property from 11 landowners to build the wind farm.
The fact that the company chose a refilled and reclaimed strip-mine site for its windmills drew praise from local officials. But that also made for “a lot of challenges” as developers took great pains to ensure the site’s viability, Trenholm said.
The main issue is stability: Installing towering turbines on 200 feet of fill is not the same as building a foundation on bedrock.
“It was a big challenge to come up with a foundation that we could afford, and one that still would support the turbines,” Trenholm said.
Developing a wind farm of this size is work-intensive, administrators said, and it’s not cheap.
They didn’t release exact figures, but said costs are estimated at $100 million to $150 million.
And there are substantial economic benefits for this area, since an estimated $17 million will be spent locally. Also, an operations staff will be working permanently at the site, though E.ON leaders could not yet say how many full-time workers will be required.
Somerset County is no stranger to wind power.
The county’s first turbines began turning in 2000 near Garrett, and the county’s two most-recently developed wind farms were dedicated earlier this year.
That mirrors the growth of the wind industry statewide, said John Hanger, state Department of Environmental Protection secretary.
In 1999, the state had no turbines.
A decade later, Pennsylvania is on the verge of hosting 14 wind farms.
“That’s starting to make a difference, a real difference at the statewide level,” Hanger said at the Stony Creek site. “We view this project as a very important step on a much bigger road.”
Wind turbines have attracted some local opposition lately. But Hanger and other officials extolled the virtues of the relatively clean, renewable energy source at Thursday’s gathering.
“I think it’s a great thing for Somerset County,” said John Vatavuk, county commissioner.