Wind energy company tries to elicit support for large Rutland County project

The Vermont Community Wind Farm is in the process of trying to gain support to build 60 wind turbines on three ridges covering six towns in Rutland County. The project as conceived would have a rated output of 80 megawatts. By comparison, the Entergy Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Vernon has a rated output of 605 megawatts. VCWF already has signed leases for more than 4,000 acres of land in IRA, Clarendon, Tinmouth and Poultney, managed by Wagner Forest Management Company.
The Vermont Community Wind Farm is estimated to produce approximately 240,000 megawatt hours of energy per year. An average household in Vermont uses 7,110 kWh of energy per year. Therefore, the wind farm would produce more than electricity than for all of the 25,683 homes in Rutland County. Vermont consumes about 6,000 gigawatt hours a year. About one-third of what Vermont uses is produced by Vermont Yankee.
The Wind Farm will generate electricity which will be fed directly into the local Vermont electrical grid, primarily in the service area of the Vermont Public Service Corporation.
VCWF has signed leases for more than 4,000 acres of land in IRA, Clarendon, Tinmouth and Poultney, managed by Wagner Forest Management Company. The company has prepared a Section 248 (J) application to the Vermont Public Service Board for the erection of three MET towers in IRA Vermont. It has been holding community forums in an effort to gain local support for the turbines. The most recent forum was held Thursday night in Tinmouth.