GMP Hopes Wind Project Succeeds Where Others Have Failed

VPR Photo/Amy Noyes

(Host) Vermont's second largest utility applied this week for permits to build a major wind power project on a ridgeline in the Northeast Kingdom.

Green Mountain Power says it's confident the new project will succeed where others have failed in the face of strong opposition.

VPR's Ross Sneyd explains why.

(Sneyd) Green Mountain Power executives have spent a lot of time in Lowell, and the towns surrounding where it wants to build 20 turbines.

They've gone door to door, organized community meetings and met with local boards and commissions.

And they've made some commitments. They'll pay Lowell a lot in property taxes. CEO Mary Powell says GMP will do more.

(Sneyd) In other words, Green Mountain Power will pay the towns of Albany, Westfield, Eden, Irasburg and Craftsbury to offset the fact they'll be able to see 20 or 21 turbines lined up across three miles of the Lowell Mountain ridgeline.

The payments will be at least $10,000 per town per year for 10 years. Towns will get more money depending on how much of their land is within five miles of the wind farm.

Powell says she's well aware that no wind farm has been built in Vermont since GMP put up a project in Searsburg in 1997.

(Powell) "It can be challenging to build projects. I think that one of the things that our team spent a lot of time talking about and looking at was, well, what were the problems in those other arenas and what happened that can inform our thinking about how we approach this."

(Sneyd) So, in its 1,300-page application to the Public Service Board, GMP has detailed how stormwater would flow off the project site. It's explained how bears that live in the area around Lowell Mountain would be affected.

Those are both issues that have tripped up other proposals.

If it's ultimately built, the Kingdom Community Wind project would be the largest generator that GMP owns.

The 400-plus-foot towers would generate 63 megawatts, or enough electricity to power 20,000 homes.

By comparison, GMP's largest hydro dam generates only about a tenth of that.

For VPR News, I'm Ross Sneyd.