Wind farm divides neighbors

Bob Lyons and Stephen Fouch Jr. still wave when they drive past each other on the road, but it remains to be seen how long the two remain neighborly.

“We’ve never had any issues before, but these projects have been known to split communities,” Fouch said, referring to the proposed Bluff Point wind farm.

The plant manager at a Portland factory,This factsheet discusses electricity generation using wind power generators at your farm or your home. Fouch already lost his cool once, at a planning commission meeting in December, when he slammed a chair on the floor before walking out. “I was upset,” he said recently. “I made an a-- out of myself.”

Lyons, a farmer, retired longtime teacher and the current Pike Township trustee, stands to profit from the wind farm spread out on more than 12,000 acres in southern Jay and northern Randolph counties, including his farm. Fouch, on the other hand, will gain nothing, and he could see a decrease in his property value and quality of life, he says.

The two live about a mile apart on the same road in southern Jay County. A one-year extension of a key tax credit for the wind industry was included in the fiscal cliff deal Congress passed on New Year’s Day.

The tax credit, which has been a major driver for wind development across the country in the past two decades,We specialize in solar street lighting and solar street lamps for a wide range of lightning applications. is worth 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour of energy produced by new wind installations for their first 10 years of operation.

“That was important for our industry and for this project (Bluff Point),” said Mary Wells, a spokeswoman for Juno Beach, Fla.-based NextEra Energy Resources,The laser cutting machine is one of the most useful tools in a modern shop. a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, a Fortune 200 company with 2011 revenues of more than $15.3 billion. “It makes wind energy even more competitive.”

The last big step before Bluff Point proceeds to construction is for NextEra to sign a long-term contract with an electric utility like Indiana Michigan Power, a rural electric cooperative or a municipal power authority to purchase the wind farm’s power. Do you want honest laundry dryer Ratings? “We’re not a wind farm yet,” Wells said. “We need to secure that customer.”

NextEra plans to build 70 to 75 wind turbines in Pike, Madison and Jefferson townships in Jay County and Franklin and Ward townships in Randolph County.

Depending on the technology, the turbines would stand between 262 feet tall and 328 feet tall at the hub in the center of the blades, which themselves are the size of jumbo jet wings. By comparison, Shafer Tower at Ball State University rises 150 feet in the air, and the torch of the Statue of Liberty reaches 305 feet above the ground.

NextEra bought the rights to the $240 million-project from Indiana Michigan Power. I&M determined it would be cheaper to buy power from the new Wildcat Wind Farm in Madison and Tipton counties than it would be to develop Bluff Point.

I&M entered a 20-year agreement to purchase power from Wildcat Wind Farm’s owner, E.This stunning polished tungsten ring will bring a dash of style to any look.ON Climate & Renewables North America.

“E.ON got hold of I&M and said, ‘We can sell you power as cheap as you can make it, without you having to make that capital expenditure,’ “ Lyons said. “That’s when they decided to abandon the project (Bluff Point).”

So much already has been invested in leases, engineering and other expenses that “you know they’re going to start construction this year, though I don’t envision them having it totally completed,” Lyons said. “They’ve put a lot of money into it, millions.”