Wind farm now aims at 2017

Bluff Point Wind Farm isn’t on the horizon for 2016, but supporters of the project think 2017 will see it happen.
“It’s alive and well,” Pike Township Trustee and wind farm promoter Bob Lyons told the board of Jay County Development Corporation Tuesday. “I’m really optimistic. … The smart money would say 2017.”
NextEra Energy, the Florida-based company proposing the wind farm in southern Jay and northern Randolph counties, has struggled to find buyers for power that would be generated by the project. But Lyons said Tuesday that situation has changed.
“The big hold-up has been: Who’s going to buy the energy?” said JCDC executive director Bill Bradley.
Lyons said changes in federal requirements for the percentage of power utilities must generate from renewable resources have created new opportunities.
NextEra now has five potential buyers for Bluff Point’s electricity interested.
“They’re really interested,” said Lyons. “This is the number one project in the United States for them.”
NextEra’s focus is on clean energy production. It has consolidated revenues of about $17.5 billion and generating capacity of about 46,300 megawatts. It has operations in 27 states and Canada and employs about 14,300.
The $240 million Bluff Point project would involve 60 to 70 wind turbines. The exact number is expected to be lower than originally forecast because generating capacity for turbines has increased.
Somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters of the investment would be in Jay County, providing a huge boost to the county’s assessed valuation for property tax purposes.
Meanwhile, JCDC’s board agreed to move forward with two projects aimed at boosting local employment.
Bradley received approval to continue discussions with Randolph County and Wayne County about replicating “Hometown Opportunities,” a website launched about three years ago in Mercer County.
“They developed a website … connnecting local companies with local talent,” said Bradley.
The site allows potential employees to post their resumes and companies to post available jobs. Much of the focus has been on filling high-skilled professional positions and on helping to bring back young people who have left the area.
Bradley estimated the start-up cost to be about $13,000 per county and another $25,000 per year per county to maintain and market the site.
Randolph County originally approached JCDC about becoming involved, Bradley said. Some other adjoining counties have been approached but weren’t interested. “Blackford doesn’t want to,” said Bradley of that county’s possible involvement.
Any formal agreement to go forward would come back to the JCDC board for approval.
Bradley also received a green light to go ahead with getting Jay County aboard with the Work Ready Communities program, which is based on the WorkKeys program. FCC (Indiana), Ardagh Group, and a few other companies are already using the WorkKeys program locally.
The next step will be for Bradley and John Jay Center for Learning executive director Rusty Inman to attend a training session.
In other business, the board:
•Belatedly approved its budget for 2016. The board lacked a quorum at its December meeting and had to postpone action.
•Heard Bradley report on the WIPB-TV program focusing on Portland that is expected to debut in March.
•Learned Bollenbacher and Associates will conduct JCDC’s annual audit in late spring after tax season.
•Received copies of a revised policy manual which will be acted upon at the board’s next meeting.
•Learned from community developer Ami Huffman that several local projects will be going out for bid soon. Specifications and documents related to the senior center expansion at Jay Community Center and the new Redkey Fire Station will be ready Monday. Bids will be received on the senior center on March 3 and on the firehouse on March 8.
•Was told by Jay County engineer Dan Watson that the long-delayed upgrade of Indiana 26 from Indiana 67 to Indiana 1 will also be put out for bids in March. Construction is expected to close that 8-mile stretch of highway from late spring to the end of the year.
•Was told that Ag Week is set for March 14 to 18.
•Heard from Huffman that word should be received in the next few weeks about a grant critical to a proposed $5 million senior housing project in Dunkirk.