August 5, 2019 at 5:52 p.m.
Getting started
Scout Clean Energy will begin work this week; wind farm to be operational in September 2020
Getting started
The first steps toward construction of a second wind farm in Jay County are about to get underway.
Scout Clean Energy plans to start work this week on the “temporary laydown yard” — its construction headquarters for the project — at the northeast corner of Indiana 1 and county road 800 South for construction of Bitter Ridge Wind Farm.
“We’re grateful to be at this point,” said Scout project manager Pete Endres. The company faced some local opposition during the permitting process last summer. “It was a long, hard fight to get the project through the permits and the approvals.
“It feels really good to be where we are right now.”
The general contractor for the project will be Minnesota firm M.A. Mortenson, which Colorado-based Scout worked with on the Mariah North Wind Farm project in Texas. Scout also has Persimmon Creek Wind Farm operational in western Oklahoma, and is working on Ranchero Wind Farm in Crockett County, Texas, as well.
The Bitter Ridge project will include 52 General Electric turbines at 2.82 megawatts each, all of which will be located south of county road 400 South between county roads 250 West and 1100 West. (Scout was permitted for up to 59 turbines.) They will reach a heigh of just under 500 feet at the tip of the blade, with the hub at 292 feet.
“Similar to what you see with NextEra,” said Scout community relations representative Chad Thompson, referencing the developer of Bluff Point Wind Energy Center in southern Jay and northern Randolph counties.
“That’s a good comparison,” added Endres. “The physical dimensions of the turbines are very similar to the Bluff Point turbines. If you were to look at them, you would not be able to distinguish between them.”
Scout Clean Energy plans to start work this week on the “temporary laydown yard” — its construction headquarters for the project — at the northeast corner of Indiana 1 and county road 800 South for construction of Bitter Ridge Wind Farm.
“We’re grateful to be at this point,” said Scout project manager Pete Endres. The company faced some local opposition during the permitting process last summer. “It was a long, hard fight to get the project through the permits and the approvals.
“It feels really good to be where we are right now.”
The general contractor for the project will be Minnesota firm M.A. Mortenson, which Colorado-based Scout worked with on the Mariah North Wind Farm project in Texas. Scout also has Persimmon Creek Wind Farm operational in western Oklahoma, and is working on Ranchero Wind Farm in Crockett County, Texas, as well.
The Bitter Ridge project will include 52 General Electric turbines at 2.82 megawatts each, all of which will be located south of county road 400 South between county roads 250 West and 1100 West. (Scout was permitted for up to 59 turbines.) They will reach a heigh of just under 500 feet at the tip of the blade, with the hub at 292 feet.
“Similar to what you see with NextEra,” said Scout community relations representative Chad Thompson, referencing the developer of Bluff Point Wind Energy Center in southern Jay and northern Randolph counties.
“That’s a good comparison,” added Endres. “The physical dimensions of the turbines are very similar to the Bluff Point turbines. If you were to look at them, you would not be able to distinguish between them.”
Thompson and Endres laid out their expected timeline last week while visiting Jay County to meet with landowners involved in the project.
After getting the laydown yard set up, construction of access roads for the turbines will begin later this month. Foundations will be poured, underground cables buried and the substation at on the west side of county road 700 West, one-third mile south of county road 500 South, constructed by the end of 2019. (The first of four $390,000 payments from Scout to the county, via their $1.56 million economic development agreement, will come this fall.)
When winter weather sets in, work will be limited to transmission lines along county roads 500 South and 1100 West.
Turbine delivery is projected to run from April through July, with installation during the same time period. Scout hopes to have the facility online in September 2020.
Endres emphasized that Scout wants to know about any problems residents may encounter during the process.
“There will be inconveniences for the public during construction. We’re aware of that,” he said. “If there’s issues or things that people need to talk about, there will be a contact number (at the laydown site). We will do our best to address those right away.”
About 24 miles of county roads will be effected during the construction. They are:
•800 South between 325 West and 1100 West
•650 South between 325 West and 600 West
•600 South between 600 West and 800 West
•575 South between New Mount Pleasant and 600 West
•500 South for one-third mile east of 700 West
•325 West between 650 South and 800 South
•425 West for a quarter mile north of Mount Pleasant Road
•450 West between 650 South and 800 South
•600 West from just north of 575 South to 800 South
•700 West from 500 South to 600 South
•800 West from 600 South to one-third mile south of 700 South
A road use agreement is in place between the county and Scout, requiring the company to restore the roads to as good or better than their initial condition once construction is complete. The goal is to have that work done by the end of 2020.
“I would anticipate and hope that that gets done by the end of next year,” Endres said.
“If it goes into operation in September there still conceivably should be time,” said Thompson. “Weather should still allow.”
If there are construction delays or weather issues, road paving would be pushed to spring 2021.
Bitter Ridge will become the county’s second wind farm, following the construction of Bluff Point in 2017. The project was 11 years in the making before 57 turbines went online in October of that year.
Scout faced a difficult path to approval for Bitter Ridge as it faced opposition from local group Stop Jay County Wind Farms. The company earned approval at the conclusion of a four-hour Jay County Plan Commission in June 2018, while at the same meeting the plan commission recommended a three-year moratorium on additional wind farm projects.
Jay County Council approved a 10-year tax abatement that is expected to save Scout $4.29 million for the project in September on a 5-2 vote, reversing the decision they had made three months earlier.
Scout will pay an estimated $13.7 million in taxes over the 25-year life of the wind farm. Landowners who have signed leases for the project are expected to be paid a total of about $13 million in rent over that period.
Last month, Scout reached an agreement with Constellation, an Exelon company, for the purchase of the bulk of the energy that will be produced by Bitter Ridge. That marked a key step in allowing the project to move forward.
After getting the laydown yard set up, construction of access roads for the turbines will begin later this month. Foundations will be poured, underground cables buried and the substation at on the west side of county road 700 West, one-third mile south of county road 500 South, constructed by the end of 2019. (The first of four $390,000 payments from Scout to the county, via their $1.56 million economic development agreement, will come this fall.)
When winter weather sets in, work will be limited to transmission lines along county roads 500 South and 1100 West.
Turbine delivery is projected to run from April through July, with installation during the same time period. Scout hopes to have the facility online in September 2020.
Endres emphasized that Scout wants to know about any problems residents may encounter during the process.
“There will be inconveniences for the public during construction. We’re aware of that,” he said. “If there’s issues or things that people need to talk about, there will be a contact number (at the laydown site). We will do our best to address those right away.”
About 24 miles of county roads will be effected during the construction. They are:
•800 South between 325 West and 1100 West
•650 South between 325 West and 600 West
•600 South between 600 West and 800 West
•575 South between New Mount Pleasant and 600 West
•500 South for one-third mile east of 700 West
•325 West between 650 South and 800 South
•425 West for a quarter mile north of Mount Pleasant Road
•450 West between 650 South and 800 South
•600 West from just north of 575 South to 800 South
•700 West from 500 South to 600 South
•800 West from 600 South to one-third mile south of 700 South
A road use agreement is in place between the county and Scout, requiring the company to restore the roads to as good or better than their initial condition once construction is complete. The goal is to have that work done by the end of 2020.
“I would anticipate and hope that that gets done by the end of next year,” Endres said.
“If it goes into operation in September there still conceivably should be time,” said Thompson. “Weather should still allow.”
If there are construction delays or weather issues, road paving would be pushed to spring 2021.
Bitter Ridge will become the county’s second wind farm, following the construction of Bluff Point in 2017. The project was 11 years in the making before 57 turbines went online in October of that year.
Scout faced a difficult path to approval for Bitter Ridge as it faced opposition from local group Stop Jay County Wind Farms. The company earned approval at the conclusion of a four-hour Jay County Plan Commission in June 2018, while at the same meeting the plan commission recommended a three-year moratorium on additional wind farm projects.
Jay County Council approved a 10-year tax abatement that is expected to save Scout $4.29 million for the project in September on a 5-2 vote, reversing the decision they had made three months earlier.
Scout will pay an estimated $13.7 million in taxes over the 25-year life of the wind farm. Landowners who have signed leases for the project are expected to be paid a total of about $13 million in rent over that period.
Last month, Scout reached an agreement with Constellation, an Exelon company, for the purchase of the bulk of the energy that will be produced by Bitter Ridge. That marked a key step in allowing the project to move forward.
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