Steel Winds (or Steel Winds I) is a wind energy project located on the coast of Lake Erie in Lackawanna, New York, just south of the City of Buffalo proper in Erie County. The project is situated on 30 acres (120,000 m2) of the 1,600-acre (6.5 km2) brownfield that was the former Bethlehem Steel Plant. It was designed to produce 20-MW of electricity (enough to power 6,000 average American homes) or 9,000 homes in New York. Power is being sold into the NYS ISO grid for sale to retail customers.[1] It is one of the largest urban wind power developments in the world.
The project is owned by First Wind, who will be selling energy, capacity and RECs to energy retailer Constellation NewEnergy through 2009. The project was built by Tennessee Valley Infrastructure Group, of Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is operated by First Wind.[2] Operation and maintenance services will be provided by the manufacturer of the turbines, Clipper Windpower, for the first five years.[2]
The project uses the old steel mill's roads and off-site transmission lines, requiring little new infrastructure. The project cost was $40 Million.[3]
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The project consists of eight Clipper Windpower 2.5-MW Liberty series wind turbines. According to a press release from the manufacturer,
More detailed information can be downloaded from their site.[5]
The turbine components were manufactured in 2006 at Clipper's facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, shipped overland at high cost to the project site in early 2007, constructed, and placed on-line in April 2007. This makes it the first commercial deployment of their 2.5-MW Liberty Series turbines.[6] June 5, 2007 marked the start of full commercial operations.[7]
Norman Polanski, mayor of Lackawanna, NY, is a supporter of the project, using it as part of his re-election campaign. It is hoped to have a positive effect on tourism and attract industry to the area, as well as the possibility of manufacturing turbine equipment locally to reduce costs for future projects.
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