[MA-RPC] FW: Wind Tower Study--Peters and Stony Mountains PA

Tue Jan 17 16:58:50 EST 2006

I have not heard anything about this.

Don

More Walk less Talk! GM

Don Walton 

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C+NC+28704&country=us> 16 Elkhorn Court
Arden, NC 28704 

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From: ma-rpc-bounces at commerce-02.cilia.org
[mailto:ma-rpc-bounces at commerce-02.cilia.org] On Behalf Of Walt Daniels
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 1:15 PM
To: MARPC list
Subject: [MA-RPC] FW: Wind Tower Study--Peters and Stony Mountains PA

  _____  

From: Michele Miller [mailto:mmiller at atconf.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 11:09 AM
To: 'Don Owen'; 'Karen Lutz'
Cc: 'Mari Omland'; bproudman at atconf.org; wdhiker at optonline.net;
kerry at trailcrews.net; bjaneharvey at aol.com; jlenahan at starblind.com;
scully at rjfisher.org; DSchwartz
Subject: Wind Tower Study--Peters and Stony Mountains PA

Karen/Don-Have you heard anything about this?

Mich

Funding breathes life into wind study

Reed hopes to determine 'economic sense' of windmills at DeHart Dam 

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 

BY GARRY LENTON

Of The Patriot-News 

Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed has long claimed that the city's trash
incinerator generates electricity to sell and steam to heat downtown
buildings. 

He long pursued a hydroelectric dam across the Susquehanna River at City
Island to generate electricity. He had to settle for a small hydroelectric
generator on the creek below the DeHart Dam. 

Now Reed is looking to the wind as the city's latest alternative energy
project. 

Reed plans to use a $360,295 grant from the Pennsylvania Energy Development
Authority to determine if there is enough wind power on the mountaintop
overlooking DeHart Dam to support a wind farm. 

"It has to make economic sense or we won't do it," Reed said yesterday. 

The one-year study will require the placement of a temporary tower on
Harrisburg Authority land that spans the crests of Peter's Moun tain and
Stony Mountain, where elevations range from 1,400 to 1,600 feet. 

The Rush Twp. property is mostly remote mountain land, but is close to Fort
Indiantown Gap and the Appalachian Trail. 

Preliminary estimates suggest that if wind velocity is high enough to spin
the windmills' turbines 180 days a year, the city could generate about 30
megawatts of electricity, Reed said. 

That would be enough to power 5,000 homes, or about a quarter of the city. 

The energy would equal that generated by burning 170,000 barrels of oil,
37,529 tons of coal or 44 million cubic feet of natural gas, Reed said. 

It would also reduce pollution by reducing emission of carbon dioxide,
nitrogen and other ozone-causing gases associated with petroleum products,
he said. 

The city would sell electricity from the project to a utility. The city
would need a way to carry the electricity from the mountain to the state's
energy grid, which would mean building transmission lines. 

"Our biggest complication is our ability to [get] it to the grid," Reed
said. 

Harrisburg sells electricity generated by methane gas combustion and burning
trash to PPL for 6 cents a kilowatt hour. 

"If you can't transport the [electricity] and don't have a long-term
contract, it makes the project difficult," said Eric Epstein, former
president, and now board member, of the Sustainable Energy Fund of
Central/Eastern Pennsylvania. 

The fund uses money collected from a surcharges on electric companies to
finance renewal energy projects in the state. The fund helped finance the
state's pioneer wind farm in Somerset County. 

"It's a major undertaking that requires hurdling a number of issues,"
Epstein said. "But if the study says it's viable, I'm sure we would explore
financing it." 

The wind strengths on the ridges above DeHart Dam range from 12.5 to 15.7
mph, earning them a U.S. Department of Energy rank of "marginal" to "fair." 

The $360,000 grant was part of an $8.5 million program for energy
development managed through the state Department of Environmental
Protection. 

Wind energy is one of the fastest-growing alternative energy sources in the
nation. Between 1990 and 2001, power generated through wind turbines doubled
in the U.S. 

Pennsylvania has helped promote wind power development through market
deregulation, public and private investments, and a pledge to buy 5 percent
of its electricity from renewable sources. 

GARRY LENTON: 255-8264 or glenton at patriot-news.com 

C2006 The Patriot-News

Michele Miller

Associate Regional Representative

Appalachian Trail Conservancy

Mid-Atlantic Regional Office

4 East First Street

P.O. Box 625

Boiling Springs, PA 17007

Phone: (717) 258-5771

Fax: (717) 258-1482

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy
<BLOCKED::http://www.appalachiantrail.org/>  is a volunteer-based nonprofit
organization dedicated to the conservation of the 2,175-mile Appalachian
National Scenic Trail, a 250,000-acre greenway extending from Maine to
Georgia. Our mission is to ensure that future generations will enjoy the
clean air and water, scenic vistas, wildlife and opportunities for
recreation and renewal along the entire Trail corridor. To become a member,
call 304.535.6331, ext. 119, or visit our Web site at
www.appalachiantrail.org. There, you will also find volunteer opportunities
and general hiking information.

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