Hoosac Wind Power Project is a

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

Crum Hill Crum Hill, , located in northwest Massachusetts, United States, in the towns of Monroe and Florida, is the highest point in Franklin County. The mountain, part of the Hoosac Range (a west facing escarpment rising from the Hoosic River Valley di ...

Monroe, Massachusetts Monroe is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 118 at the 2020 census. By area, population, and population density, it is the smallest town in the county; and is the second-smallest town by population in the ...

and on Bakke Mountain in

Florida, Massachusetts Florida is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is home to the east portal of the Hoosac Tunnel, as well as Whitcomb Summit (elevation ), the highe ...

. Owned and operated by

Iberdrola Renewables Iberdrola Renovables was a subsidiary of Iberdrola, headquartered in Valencia, Spain, which included companies in the domains of renewable energy, particularly wind power. The firm was the world's largest renewable energy firm: it was the worl ...

, it is the largest wind farm in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, with 19 GE 1.5 MW

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s and a total installed capacity of 28.5 MW. The Hoosac Wind power project became fully operational in 2012 and provides enough electricity to power 10,000 homes annually.

History

In 1980, during a

Bakke Mountain Bakke Mountain is a summit located in the town of Florida, Massachusetts. It was named for Master Sergeant Roald Bakke, who died in the collapse of Texas Tower 4 Texas Tower 4 (ADC ID: TT-4) was a United States Air Force Texas Tower General ...

hike, the Bakke family noticed the region was quite breezy. The sparse tree growth was misshapen and deformed by the strong winds. Hans Bakke began to consider the possibility of

wind energy Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...

at the site. EnXco, the wind-energy company and partner of the French energy conglomerate

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...

, approached the Bakke family to propose building a wind farm, together they created Hoosac Wind LLC. In November 2004, the State of

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is an agency in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, responsible for protecting the environment in the state. Its areas of respo ...

approved the proposed project. However, thorny issues plague the project including the presence of potentially vulnerable species of

goldenrod Goldenrod is a common name for many species of flowering plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, commonly in reference to the genus ''Solidago''. Several genera, such as ''Euthamia'', were formerly included in a broader concept of the genus ...

in the vicinity of the proposed site, as well as the asserted danger to the migratory paths of birds and bats. Hoosac Wind achieved tentative approval from both

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and Monroe after taking considerable amounts of wind-speed and direction data, along with

avian Avian may refer to: *Birds or Aves, winged animals *Avian (given name) (russian: Авиа́н, link=no), a male forename Aviation *Avro Avian, a series of light aircraft made by Avro in the 1920s and 1930s *Avian Limited, a hang glider manufacture ...

archeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...

geological Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...

, and

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

studies which were conducted as well. In January 2006, Hoosac Wind LLC was purchased by the British company PPM Energy for an estimated US$40 million, PPM was subsequently absorbed by

. Hoosac Wind LLC was renamed New England Wind LLC. Green Berkshires, an environmental organization opposed to wind energy projects in the Berkshire mountain range, had filed an appeal rejected by the State of Massachusetts Division of Administrative Law Appeals. As of May, 2008, the project was still under review post environmental standards challenges. The project began construction in early 2012 and was completed in December 2012.

Project details

The project consists of 19

GE Wind Energy GE Wind Energy is a branch of GE Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of General Electric. The company manufactures and sells wind turbines to the international market. In 2018, GE was the fourth largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world. History ...

1.5 MW

s and is divided among two separate sites – nine turbines on Crum Hill in Monroe, and ten on

. Each turbine produces 1.5 MW, the site has a capacity to produce 28.5 MW; this is enough energy to supply approximately 10,000 average homes in the region annually. The towers are tall, with blades. From base to vertically positioned blade tip, they will be approximately . The turbines begin generating energy at wind speeds as low as , and produce the maximum power output when winds blow above . The maximum rotor speed is 20 rpm. The project was built with turbines manufactured at facilities all across the U.S. The power generated is delivered to the New England grid through the local utility National Grid.

Environmental impact

The Hoosac Wind Power Project offsets approximately 100 million pounds of carbon dioxide per year relative to conventional electricity generation. That is equivalent to the estimated annual emissions produced by 9,400 cars or consuming more than 112,000 barrels of oil.

Economic impact

Approximately US$257,000 in annual payments in lieu of taxes are made to the host towns (US$135,000 to

, $122,000 to Monroe), escalating with inflation, amounting to approximately US$6.8 million over the life of the agreement. In addition, the towns host turbines on town-owned land, which will generate approximately US$3 million in revenue over the life of the project. The project created 3 permanent jobs, 140 temporary construction jobs at peak, and purchase many products and services locally. To date, the project has generated 70,098 local labor hours and nearly US$3.8 million in local spending.

References

External links