Those easements will be needed for placement of the wind turbines, electric substations and electrical lines. ...the project’s proximity to the electricity grid transmission system used by the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant is a key reason the company is working to build the wind farm here.
Those easements will be needed for placement of the wind turbines, electric substations and electrical lines. ...the project’s proximity to the electricity grid transmission system used by the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant is a key reason the company is working to build the wind farm here.
Consumers Energy has worked for two and a half years to prepare for a 100-megawatt wind farm on land in southern Mason County and is almost ready to release information about those plans.
The Lakewinds Energy Park is being planned for an area roughly bordered by U.S. 10, U.S. 31, Lake Michigan and the Oceana County line. It will include placement of 40 to 70 wind turbine towers that will each generate 1.5 megawatts to 2.5 megawatts.
“Last year, we were still in a conceptual stage and this year we have a name for the project, Lake Winds Energy Park,” said Dennis Marvin, communications director for Consumers Energy’s new generation department.
The company is scheduled to provide information about their project to the public during …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]Consumers Energy has worked for two and a half years to prepare for a 100-megawatt wind farm on land in southern Mason County and is almost ready to release information about those plans.
The Lakewinds Energy Park is being planned for an area roughly bordered by U.S. 10, U.S. 31, Lake Michigan and the Oceana County line. It will include placement of 40 to 70 wind turbine towers that will each generate 1.5 megawatts to 2.5 megawatts.
“Last year, we were still in a conceptual stage and this year we have a name for the project, Lake Winds Energy Park,” said Dennis Marvin, communications director for Consumers Energy’s new generation department.
The company is scheduled to provide information about their project to the public during the Western Michigan Fair at the Mason County Fairgrounds July 27-31. Marvin expects the information booth will be manned between 9 a.m. and about 5 p.m. each of those days.
“Not everything will be ready for dissemination at that time,” he said, adding that the company is still working on details and may have more information to share in five or six months.
At this point, Marvin said, Consumers Energy has signed easement agreements with “several hundred landowners” that total 16,000 acres.
Those easements will be needed for placement of the wind turbines, electric substations and electrical lines. Compensation agreements with the landowners, Marvin said, will vary depending on whether the property is used for a tower, for multiple towers, for a substation, for electric lines or to meet setback requirements.
He said the project’s proximity to the electricity grid transmission system used by the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant is a key reason the company is working to build the wind farm here.
Consumers Energy will be on hand at a Ludington Daily News forum at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 28 at the Western Michigan Fair to give a 10 to 15 minute presentation about its 100 megaweatt Lake Winds Energy Park planned to go into operation in 2012 in Mason County.
Consumers will have on display in a nearby building artist’s rendition of what its wind park might look like in Mason County. Photographs of typical sites will be overlaid with photos of wind turbines to give the public a sense of what the park might look like. The project still has to go through site determination but is expected to begin in 2011.