Apex will pursue 200-megawatt wind energy project in Barre
Company files public involvement plan for ‘Heritage Wind’
Photo by Tom Rivers: Ben Yazman, Heritage Wind project developer for Apex Clean Energy, is pictured in this photo from may by the Barre town water tower.
BARRE – Apex Clean Energy has filed a Public Involvement Plan for a wind energy project in the Town of Barre.
The company tells the state Public Service Commission it wants to build a 200-Megawatt project in Barre. This is the second project Apex is working on in Orleans.
The Charlottesville, Va. company has proposed Lighthouse Wind for the towns of Yates and Somerset near the southshore of Lake Ontario.
Apex has been working on the Barre project for several months, meeting with landowners and community members. Ben Yazman, project developer for Apex, said the project has been well received by many landowners.
“We have been talking to many stakeholders in and around the project area for months,” Yazman said. “There is widespread interest in this project and we look forward to this formalization of the process with the filing of our final Public Involvement Program. We want every stakeholder to have a clear path to providing input to our project, and I encourage any interested parties to reach out to us directly to schedule consultations.”
Apex is required to file a draft Public Involvement Program (PIP) plan under Article 10 of the Public Service Law. The PIP is designed to inform and gather input and involvement from the public and interested agencies on the Heritage Wind project throughout the Article 10 process, which Apex expects will take two to three years to complete, Yazman said.
Local officials and residents are welcome to submit comments for 30 days from the Sept. 23 filing of the PIP. The Department of Public Service will review the draft PIP, and will determine if it is adequate or if Apex needs to take additional measures for public involvement.
Yazman said Apex will be opening an office soon in Orleans County. He said members of the Apex team working on Heritage Wind can be reached at 585-563-5137 or info@heritagewindpower.com.
Once the office is established, the Heritage team will welcome the public to stop by if they have questions or want information on the project. Community members can also schedule a more formal meeting or presentation.
Yazman said the entire town of Barre is under review for the project except for a 2-mile buffer around the Pine Hill Airport. Local wind monitoring confirms that the area under consideration is ideal for a project of this size, which Yazman said will produce enough safe, pollution-free energy to power approximately 53,000 U.S. homes.
Heritage Wind will create jobs and generate a new source of long-term revenue for the local community, the company said in a press release today.
“The total direct financial impact to the region is likely to be in the millions of dollars over about 30 years, with additional indirect economic benefits greatly exceeding that number,” Apex stated in the press release.
For more on Heritage Wind, click here.
