CUMBERLAND - A Savage Mountain wind power project that never got off the ground will officially die on Saturday, when the facility's construction deadline passes.

Despite a two-year extension granted in 2007, construction work never began on the proposed US Wind Force facility. After three years of construction delays, Vice President David Friend said that ultimately, the company couldn't secure an adequate power purchase agreement in a timely fashion.

"At that time the market was at one place and today it's at a different place," Friend said. "In today's market, that project just didn't perform well enough to make it work."

US Wind Force filed a permit application with the Maryland Public Service Commission on Aug. 26, 2002, to build a 40-megawatt wind power facility on the border of Allegany and Garrett counties, near Lonaconing.

The Maryland Public Service Commission approved the permit on March 20, 2003, allowing the project to proceed and requiring construction to be... [continue via Web link]