St. Lawrence Wind Farm

Project at a Glance

Power Generation

The proposed St. Lawrence Wind Farm would have significant, long-lasting positive impacts on both the community, and on the efforts to create a more sustainable energy solution for the U.S. When the project comes into operation, it will deliver enough clean, renewable energy for more than 26,500 homes in New York State, on an average annual basis.

This project would offer many positive economic impacts to key local stakeholder groups, including: participating landowners, villages, towns, the county and school districts. These impacts are realized in the forms of local job creation during project construction and long-term positions for operations and maintenance; tax revenues paid once the project is operational; income to landowners; and investment in local infrastructures. Many of these effects would commence during construction and continue throughout the operating life of the project. Other benefits of the project that occur during construction include additional employment, income, and expenditures allocated for the approximately 200 construction personnel that will be in the community. For example, construction workers would purchase food in local restaurants and may stay at local hotels or in nearby campgrounds. The overall economic impacts of the St. Lawrence Wind Farm are significant and long-term – we’re invested in the community because we plan to be a part of the community for years to come.

Harnessing a plentiful domestic energy resource like wind to generate electric power provides the U.S. with sustainable, clean-energy choices beyond conventional power plants, which are facing depleting resources, increased carbon emissions and price volatility. The St. Lawrence Wind Farm produces energy from a clean, unconstrained, domestic energy source – avoiding the need to produce, transport, store, or burn any fossil fuel. This is the future of energy production, and one that communities can be proud to host, without the concern for contribution to air or water pollution.

“Looking forward to the jobs and the industry that this project will bring to Cape Vincent.  I want to see turbines on U.S. property instead of looking across the river and just seeing turbines on the Canadian side.” –  Harvey White, dairy farmer
 

Frequently Asked Questions

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What is Wind Energy?

In reality, wind energy is a converted form of solar energy. The sun's radiation heats different parts of the earth at different rates-most notably during the day and night, but also when different surfaces (e.g. water and land) absorb or reflect at different rates. This in turn causes portions of the atmosphere to warm differently. Hot air rises, reducing the atmospheric pressure at the earth's surface, and cooler air is drawn in to replace it. The result is wind. Air has mass, and when it is in motion, it contains the energy of that motion ("kinetic energy"). Some portion of that energy can converted into other forms mechanical force or electricity that we can use to perform work.*

* Information sourced from American Wind Energy Association Website

What is a wind turnbine and how does it work?

A wind energy system transforms the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical or electrical energy that can be harnessed for practical use. Mechanical energy is most commonly used for pumping water in rural or remote locations such as the "farm windmill" which still can be seen in many rural areas of the U.S. ACCIONA turbines generate electricity to sell to utilities.  ACCIONA uses a horizontal axis (propeller style) wind turbine which is the most common today.  The horizontal axis turbine constitutes nearly all of the "utility-scale" (100 kilowatts, kW, capacity and larger) turbines in the global market.*

* Information sourced from American Wind Energy Association Website

What are the main subsystems of a wind turbine?

• A rotor, or blades, which convert the wind's energy into rotational shaft energy;
• A nacelle (enclosure) containing a drive train, usually including a gearbox and a generator.
• A tower, to support the rotor and drive train; and
• Electronic equipment such as controls, electrical cables, ground support equipment, and interconnection equipment.

What are watts and kilowatts?

• The ability to generate electricity is measured in watts. Watts are very small units, so the terms kilowatt (kW, 1,000 watts), megawatt (MW, 1 million watts), are most commonly used to describe the capacity of generating units like wind turbines or other power plants.
• Electricity production and consumption are most commonly measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh). A kilowatt-hour means one kilowatt (1,000 watts) of electricity produced or consumed for one hour. One 50-watt light bulb left on for 20 hours consumes one kilowatt-hour of electricity (50 watts x 20 hours = 1,000 watt-hours = 1 kilowatt-hour).*

* Information sourced from American Wind Energy Association Website

What is the typical size of a utility-scale wind turbine?

• A standard 1.5 MW wind turbine is typically approximately 260 feet tall from the base to the hub.  Each blade is approximately 120 feet long.
• Wind turbines in the multi-megawatt range, such as a 3 MW wind turbine, can be as tall as approximately 390 feet, with blade lengths of approximately 180 feet.
• ACCIONA wind turbines come in two sizes: 1.5 MW and 3.0 MW. The rotor diameters range in size from 229 feet to 380 feet approximately.  The height of the towers range from 196 feet to 328 feet approximately.
   

How much energy comes from a wind turbine?

The output of a wind turbine depends on the turbine's size and the wind's speed through the rotor.  A single 1.5 MW wind turbine, operating at the average North American wind capacity rate of 33 percent, generates 4.3 million kilowatt hours of energy annually. Since the average American household uses 10,655 kWh of energy per year, this one turbine can provide power equivalent to the energy consumed by approximately 430 households per year.*

* Information sourced from American Wind Energy Association Website

Is my land suitable for wind development?

A lot of factors determine if a piece of land is viable for wind development.  Factors range from average wind speed, wind direction, air density, elevation, and other criteria.  One year or more of site-specific wind data collection is typically necessary in order to evaluate the viability of wind farm development.  In addition, a long term (more than 5 years) wind study is required for the general area to evaluate the viability of a development.*

* Information sourced from American Wind Energy Association Website

What is the total time to construct a wind farm?

• Typically, a 100 MW project will take approximately ten months to construct.
• Some of the staple construction processes include: an in-depth analysis and preliminary layout; micro-sitting; contract acquisitions; engineering and geotechnical studies; construction, including civil and electrical works; and finally turbine transportation, erection and commissioning.  The project is then prepared for handoff to the operations and maintenance personnel.
   

Does ACCIONA buy or lease land from landowners for the wind farm sites?

ACCIONA works closely with the communities in which we’re developing wind farms.  If we’ve identified that a site has a strong wind resource, we will work with the landowners whose land comprises of the proposed site and we will form lease agreements for the use of this land as a potential wind farm development.

Do I have to stop farming or grazing activities on my land if I lease my property for wind development?

Agricultural activities co-exist very naturally with a wind farm development.  Once the project is constructed, each wind turbine requires only 0.5 – 2 acres, allowing landowners to continue to raise crops and livestock nearly right up to the base of the turbines.
 

How long is the development process of a wind farm?

• The development process for a wind farm can be a very lengthy process, often spanning over several years.  Many of the milestones in this process require lengthy planning and consideration to ensure the viability of a site.   Additionally, varying state policy and regulations related to renewable electricity standards and permitting can make the timeline of the development process unique across states and regions.
• Some of the critical milestones in the process include: a clear understanding of the wind resource; determination of the proximity to transmission; secure access to land; confirm access to capital; identification of a power purchaser or market for the energy produced; siting and feasibility consideration; analysis and understanding of the economics; zoning and permitting work; wind turbine generator availability/agreement; consideration, then dialogue regarding construction and operations and maintenance.
   

How does the U.S. wind industry contribute to the economy

Wind power supplies affordable, inexhaustible energy to the economy. It also provides jobs and other sources of income. Best of all, wind powers the economy without causing pollution, generating hazardous wastes, or depleting natural resources—it has no "hidden costs." Finally, wind energy depends on a free fuel source—the wind—and so it is relatively immune to inflation.*

* Information sourced from American Wind Energy Association Website
 

In what other ways does wind energy benefit the economy?

• Wind farms can revitalize the economy of rural communities, providing steady income through lease or royalty payments to farmers and other landowners. Although leasing arrangements vary widely, a reasonable estimate for income to a landowner from a single utility-scale turbine is about $3,000 a year. For a 250-acre farm, with income from wind at about $55 an acre, the annual income from a wind lease could be $14,000, with no more than 2-3 acres removed from production. Such a sum can significantly increase the net income from farming. Farmers can grow crops or raise cattle next to the towers. Wind farms may extend over a large geographical area, but their actual "footprint" covers only a very small portion of the land, making wind development an ideal way for farmers to earn additional income. In west Texas, for example, farmers are welcoming wind, as lease payments from this new clean energy source replace declining payments from oil wells that have been depleted.*
• Farmers are not the only ones in rural communities to find that wind power can bring in income. In Spirit Lake, Iowa, the local school is earning savings and income from the electricity generated by a turbine. In the district of Forest City, Iowa, a turbine recently erected as a school project is expected to save $1.6 million in electricity costs over its lifetime.*
• Additional income is generated from one-time payments to construction contractors and suppliers during installation, and from payments to turbine maintenance personnel on a long-term basis. Wind farms also expand the local tax base, and keep energy dollars in the local community instead of spending them to pay for coal or gas produced elsewhere.*
• Finally, wind also benefits the economy by reducing "hidden costs" resulting from air pollution and health care. Several studies have estimated that 50,000 Americans die prematurely each year because of air pollution.

* Information sourced from American Wind Energy Association Website

What are the environmental benefits of wind power?

<ul>
    <li>Wind energy system operations do not generate air or water emissions and do not produce hazardous waste. Nor do they deplete natural resources such as coal, oil, or gas, or cause environmental damage through resource extraction and transportation, or require significant amounts of water during operation. Wind's pollution-free electricity can help reduce the environmental damage caused by power generation in the U.S. and worldwide.*</li>
    <li>Air quality has a direct impact on human health.&nbsp; Particulate matter in the air, often as a result of power plant emissions, has been shown to affect cardiovascular and respiratory health.&nbsp; Unhealthy levels of particulate pollution can even cause otherwise healthy people to get sick.&nbsp; More than 25 percent of the people in the United States live in counties with unhealthy levels of short-term particulate pollution.&nbsp; The generation of electricity from the wind does not result in any air emissions.&nbsp; By offsetting more polluting forms of energy generation, wind energy can actually improve air quality and our health.*</li>
    <li>Reducing Global Warming: In 2007, wind energy generation prevented the emission of nearly 28 million tons of carbon dioxide- a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.&nbsp; Human health can be adversely affected by rising global temperatures.&nbsp; Fewer frost events and longer warm seasons could result in stronger and more widespread allergens and fungal spores, as well as an increase in the spread of exoctic diseases.&nbsp; Health experts also raise concerns of an increased incidence of heat&nbsp; waves and resulting deaths.&nbsp; Wind energy produces less than two percent of the emissions from coal combustion per mega-watt hour, even when the manufacturing process of wind turbines is accounted for, giving it one of the lowest greenhouse gas lifecycle emissions levels of any power technology.*<br />
    &nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>* Information sourced from American Wind Energy Association Website<br />
&nbsp;</p>

Where I can I learn more information on wind energy?

• U.S. National Renewable Energy: http://www.nrel.gov/
• U.S. Department of Energy: http://www.energy.gov/
• American Wind Energy Association: http://www.awea.org/
• Canadian Wind Energy Association: http://www.canwea.ca/
   

Proposed Documents

• Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) Documents
• Supplemental Draft Environment Impact Statement (SDEIS) Documents
• Wetland Permit (Joint Permit Application)
• Code of Conduct

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Tim Conboy, Sr. Project Development Manager
Bryan Stumpf, Project Management Developer

122 South Point Street
PO Box 660
Cape Vincent, NY 13618
T: 315.654.2210

info@stlawrencewind.com