Official: N.J. company wants to build 24 in Cherry Valley
By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau
Reunion Power of Montvale, N.J., is getting ready to unveil its plans to erect as many as 24 wind turbines on a ridge of hills in eastern Cherry Valley at a cost of about $80 million.
If everything goes according to plan, the turbines would go up in the spring and summer of 2007, and by fall they would be turning wind into electricity, according to David Little, project manager.
"We’re still putting all the pieces together, but we’d like to have an open house in Cherry Valley this fall to show people what we want to propose," Little said Tuesday. Then in the coming months, the firm will take its proposal to th
e Cherry Valley Town Planning Board and begin work on an environmental impact statement to address the project’s effect on the community.
"With a project of this size, we want to do a full EIS and that takes quite a while, so I don’t want to be held to a completion date," Little said.
Driving this project is the apparently brisk, steady wind that flows over the ridges between Cherry Valley and Sharon Springs. Last January, Reunion erected a meteorological tower to test the wind on a hill off Route 50, east of the village of Cherry Valley. Results so far confirm what had been suspected from a previous test by another developer and anecdotal information: "It would seem the wind is outstanding," Little said.
Reunion may seek to erect another slender "met" tower to test the wind on a nearby hill as it works through the process of siting each proposed turbine.
"I’ve run into some people who’ve asked why we’re taking so long, but with an $80 million project, you want to have as much information as possible to guide you," Little said. Reunion became interested in harvesting the winds of Cherry Valley nearly two years ago and has been moving methodically toward that goal ever since, he said.
About 12 property owners have signed agreements that will allow Reunion to site towers on their properties in the east hill area. The firm has a good idea where turbines could be situated, and when the open house is held, "we’ll have visuals so people can see what they will look like, and we’ll have experts there to answer questions." he said.
Before Reunion Power came to Cherry Valley, Global Winds Harvest had proposed building wind turbines there. Global Wind’s proposals were opposed by a group called Advocates for Cherry Valley, and that group is opposed to Reunion’s plans, too, according to Lynn Marsh of Roseboom, a founding member of the group.
"We’ve been going to town meetings, monitoring what’s going on and we’re ready for when Reunion comes to the planning board," Marsh said. Most members of the group, who live in Cherry Valley and other communities, are strong supporters of the environment, but don’t think historical Cherry Valley is the place for large wind turbines.
"We’re not NIMBY’s, but we don’t think Cherry Valley is an appropriate site," she said. Two months ago, Reunion sponsored a trip to Fenner, a town in Montgomery County that has windmills, but the group was not swayed by favorable reports from residents there, Marsh said.
"It may work for Fenner, but I don’t think it will work here," she said.
Asked if the group would like the town of Cherry Valley to conduct a straw poll to see how most residents regard Reunion’s plans, Marsh noted that several of the group’s members do not live in Cherry Valley, although they own property there and pay taxes there.
A poll of the town’s residents would not record what these landowners think, she said.
Little said the group’s stance will not stop Reunion from making its proposal. The firm would like to meet with local officials and negotiate a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement "to make sure the community shares in the revenue stream from the project," he said.
"In Fenner, they had a PILOT agreement that guaranteed the town $5,000 per megawatt, so for 30 megawatts, that means $150,000 a year," he said. "That’s probably on the conservative side for Cherry Valley.
Little said each turbine in Cherry Valley will likely generate between two and three megawatts, as turbines have improved since those in Fenner were installed. At 24 turbines, the project would generate more than 50 megawatts.
Robert Loucks, Cherry Valley’s supervisor, said Tuesday that an annual payment from Reunion would go a long way in Cherry Valley.
"We could use it for special projects, or in other ways," he said. Loucks, who will be retiring at the end of the year, said he was sure the town board would want to hear residents’ opinions on how the money should be used. Little said he knew of no reason the payments could not be put toward school taxes, as well as town taxes..
In the months since Reunion came on the scene, the world energy market has been changing rapidly and rising costs for oil and other fossil fuels have made wind more competitive economically, Little said.
"Wind power is competitive now, and more people are beginning to realize the environmental benefits it offers," he said. No fuel is needed to make the turbine spin and no exhaust comes out a smokestack, he noted.
The turbines have a life of 20 to 25 years, he said. If Cherry Valley allows them to be erected, money will be set aside to make sure they can be dismantled and removed after they are taken out of service, he said.
"Who knows where we’ll be in 25 years; maybe we’ll be powering everything with fuel cells," Little said. But if the wind turbines are to stay beyond 25 years, it will be only after Cherry Valley planners and landowners in the 2030s agree to new contracts.
