The first shipments of turbine components for Green Mountain Powerâ s Kingdom Community Wind facility are beginning to arrive in Lowell, Vermont, marking another key milestone in the development of the companyâ s 63-megawatt renewable energy project.
â Weâ re excited to begin construction of the turbines after months of project planning and site preparation,’said GMP spokeswoman Dorothy Schnure. â Today we are one step closer to delivering on our promise to provide the lowest-cost, new renewable energy to Vermonters through the Kingdom Community Wind project.â
Trucks will be transporting turbine parts from now until early September.
The project will consist of 21 Vestas V112-3.0 MW turbines on Lowell Mountain, and will generate enough electricity for more than 24,000 Vermont homes. It will also continue to provide an economic boost to the Northeast Kingdom communities, including new jobs and economic activity during the construction phase, and ongoing benefits that include significant property tax payments to the Town of Lowell, tax payments to the state education fund and a Good Neighbor Fund to support five surrounding communities.
The project has employed more than 200 workers directly in construction, more than two-thirds from Vermont. Thirteen Vermont employers are actively engaged in building the wind project and over 100 Vermont-based firms and vendors have been involved in some aspect of Kingdom Community Wind.
â The project has provided a major economic infusion to the Northeast Kingdom through the creation of hundreds of direct and indirect jobs resulting from the construction process,’Schnure said.
The Kingdom Community Wind project will be Green Mountain Powerâ s second wind farm. The Company built a six-megawatt wind farm in Searsburg, Vt., in 1997, which continues to generate cost-effective energy for Green Mountain Power customers.
Community support was critical for the project to move forward and it has been well received by the Lowell community, where 75 percent of voters at a heavily attended March 2010 Town Meeting voted to support the project.
â Vermonters have made it very clear that renewable electricity should be included in our energy future,’Schnure said. â Kingdom Community Wind will be a cost-effective, locally produced, carbon-free power source that will play a key role in helping Vermont meet its renewable energy goals moving forward.â
Green Mountain Power expects the project to be operational by the end of 2012.
Source: Green Mountain Power Photo:Kingdom Community Wind turbine artist's rendering viewed from Lowell Town Gravel Pit 2.7 miles away, courtesy of GMP
Green Mountain Power (www.greenmountainpower.com) transmits, distributes and sells electricity in the State of Vermont. It serves more than 250,000 customers.
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