November 29, 2017 at 6:36 p.m.
Wind farm a reality
Developer updates on Bluff Point project
Wind farm a reality
Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
It took more than a decade of planning, but a wind farm in Jay County is finally a reality.
For just over a month, blades have been spinning and producing energy at Bluff Point Wind Energy Center, a facility that includes 57 turbines in southern Jay County and northern Randolph County.
“Well, we did it. I’m sure Mr. Lyons can tell you it’s been a long time, but we did it,” said Zach Melda, project manager for developer NextEra Resources, referencing Pike Township farmer and long-time wind farm advocate Bob Lyons. “As of Oct. 27, we completed 119.7 megawatts of clean energy, enough for 36,000 homes …”
Melda presented an update on the wind farm as part of Jay County Chamber of Commerce’s networking luncheon Tuesday at Jay County Hospital.
All of the turbines — 44 in Jay County and 13 in Randolph County — were up by early October, with NextEra and wind farm construction firm Blattner Energy then focusing on other prep work and clean-up prior to the facility going active at its full capacity on Oct. 27.
A commissioning ceremony for Bluff Point Wind Energy Center is slated for Dec. 7. Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch is expected to attend, Melda said, and the event will also include a performance by the Jay County High School Marching Patriots.
The bulk of Tuesday’s presentation involved a recounting of the massive scale of the $200 million project that at its peak employed about 200 workers. It involved about 30,000 cubic yards of concrete — each base needed 500 cubic yards — and about 4.6 million pounds of reinforcing steel.
That concrete, Melda noted, came from local sources.
“Usually we create a batch plant … and we didn’t have to do that this time,” he said. “We had local vendors set up that we could buy that concrete locally and bring it in.”
Each turbine stands 308 feet from the base to the center of the blades, with the tip of the blade at its highest point reaching 499 feet. They were installed by cranes that reached beyond 600 feet with the ability to lift 660 tons.
The electricity generated runs through underground lines to a new substation on county road 800 South, less than a mile west of U.S. 27, and is then sold to Appalachian Power, a subsidiary of American Electric Power. The wind farm, which has a projected life span of 25 years, will be monitored by nine full-time staffers.
NextEra, the country’s largest wind energy producer with about 14,000 total turbines located at more than 100 facilities, is currently working on a pair of other Indiana projects. The 101.9 megawatt Westport project in Fayette County is slated for construction next year, and the 500-megawatt Jordan Creek project in Warren and Benton counties is in the works with a construction goal of 2019 to 2020.
The Bluff Point project will result in an estimated $30 million in taxes over the life of the facility, as well as about $28 million in payments to landowners. The county’s agreement with NextEra also calls for four payments of $249,000 for economic development, the first of which has already been made.
Next week’s commissioning will mark the culmination of a process that began in November 2006 when Indiana Michigan Power expressed interest in meeting with local landowners about the possibility of gathering information about the feasibility of a wind farm in the area.
“This was our first project in Indiana,” said Melda. “We’re really, really proud to be here, finally.”
All Rights Reserved
It took more than a decade of planning, but a wind farm in Jay County is finally a reality.
For just over a month, blades have been spinning and producing energy at Bluff Point Wind Energy Center, a facility that includes 57 turbines in southern Jay County and northern Randolph County.
“Well, we did it. I’m sure Mr. Lyons can tell you it’s been a long time, but we did it,” said Zach Melda, project manager for developer NextEra Resources, referencing Pike Township farmer and long-time wind farm advocate Bob Lyons. “As of Oct. 27, we completed 119.7 megawatts of clean energy, enough for 36,000 homes …”
Melda presented an update on the wind farm as part of Jay County Chamber of Commerce’s networking luncheon Tuesday at Jay County Hospital.
All of the turbines — 44 in Jay County and 13 in Randolph County — were up by early October, with NextEra and wind farm construction firm Blattner Energy then focusing on other prep work and clean-up prior to the facility going active at its full capacity on Oct. 27.
A commissioning ceremony for Bluff Point Wind Energy Center is slated for Dec. 7. Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch is expected to attend, Melda said, and the event will also include a performance by the Jay County High School Marching Patriots.
The bulk of Tuesday’s presentation involved a recounting of the massive scale of the $200 million project that at its peak employed about 200 workers. It involved about 30,000 cubic yards of concrete — each base needed 500 cubic yards — and about 4.6 million pounds of reinforcing steel.
That concrete, Melda noted, came from local sources.
“Usually we create a batch plant … and we didn’t have to do that this time,” he said. “We had local vendors set up that we could buy that concrete locally and bring it in.”
Each turbine stands 308 feet from the base to the center of the blades, with the tip of the blade at its highest point reaching 499 feet. They were installed by cranes that reached beyond 600 feet with the ability to lift 660 tons.
The electricity generated runs through underground lines to a new substation on county road 800 South, less than a mile west of U.S. 27, and is then sold to Appalachian Power, a subsidiary of American Electric Power. The wind farm, which has a projected life span of 25 years, will be monitored by nine full-time staffers.
NextEra, the country’s largest wind energy producer with about 14,000 total turbines located at more than 100 facilities, is currently working on a pair of other Indiana projects. The 101.9 megawatt Westport project in Fayette County is slated for construction next year, and the 500-megawatt Jordan Creek project in Warren and Benton counties is in the works with a construction goal of 2019 to 2020.
The Bluff Point project will result in an estimated $30 million in taxes over the life of the facility, as well as about $28 million in payments to landowners. The county’s agreement with NextEra also calls for four payments of $249,000 for economic development, the first of which has already been made.
Next week’s commissioning will mark the culmination of a process that began in November 2006 when Indiana Michigan Power expressed interest in meeting with local landowners about the possibility of gathering information about the feasibility of a wind farm in the area.
“This was our first project in Indiana,” said Melda. “We’re really, really proud to be here, finally.”
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