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Coconino County's first wind farm, the state's largest, plans to begin generating electricity in December.
Dozens of crane operators, truck drivers, electricians and other contractors have been assembling wind turbines some 13 miles north of Williams since August, laying down an estimated 30 miles of road and underground power lines.
The turbines stand 398 feet tall in all, dwarfing construction trucks and workers.
All of the turbines on the Perrin Ranch Wind Energy Project are supposed to be in place by the end of the year, with the goal of helping Arizona Public Service (APS) generate more of its power from renewable sources, as required by state regulators.
The turbines arrive in pieces on trucks and are assembled by cranes.
Once constructed, they're attached to underground utility lines, outfitted with weather stations and computer systems, and set to automatically shut themselves down for safety if wind speeds exceed about 55 mph.
Blades will generally turn about 20 revolutions per minute.
Contractors building these turbines are from all over, including Florida, Texas, Iowa and Minnesota.
"This facility will probably generate electricity 75 percent or 80 percent of the time," said Steve Stengel, spokesman with owner and operator NextEra Energy Resources.
He outlined some of the benefits.
"There are no emissions from a wind turbine," Stengel said.
APS now generates about 3 percent of its energy from renewable sources.
This wind farm will probably bring that number to about 3.5 percent, an APS spokeswoman said, and it will mostly displace some electricity generated by natural gas.
APS needs to get 10 percent of its power from renewables by 2015 and 15 percent of its power from renewables by 2025 under existing mandates from the Arizona Corporation Commission.
One unknown is what this project's power costs the ratepayers -- APS doesn't make that public.
NextEra is looking at more possible wind farms in Coconino County, including north of the San Francisco Peaks. But it has set aside one possible project because rare birds are present at that site, said Project Director Matt Gomes.
State support for building renewable energy projects is butting up against local opposition from some neighbors in the area, and debates among planners about what the view along the drive to the Grand Canyon should include.
Coconino County officials expect this could be the first of a series of projects, and they are now taking a hard look at what kinds of renewable power generation to allow where, and drafting guidelines.
Construction at Perrin Ranch comes after opposition by neighbors on Howard Mesa, 13-hour-long public meetings, and a February vote that saw Coconino County Board of Supervisors narrowly approve the wind park.
Linda Webb lives about 3 1/2 miles from the nearest wind turbine and led a group of residents opposed to the wind farm, sending in dozens of letters asking Coconino County Supervisors to block the development.
She said the scene is worse than she had imagined.
"They bulldozed the tops off all these ridges and flattened them out like ballfields," Webb said.
She and some dozens of her neighbors spent $15,000 on lawyers and other expenses to oppose the wind farm, saying it wouldn't generate that much power and would mar the landscape. But they don't want to pay an estimated $50,000 to take the case further.
Webb is now a fixture at meetings where wind-testing towers are up for consideration, in hopes of blocking more wind parks proposed for the Babbitt Ranches north of the San Francisco Peaks, and perhaps also the Aubrey Cliffs north of Seligman.
"It's done. There's nothing to be done about it now. Our goal now is to make sure there is no further proliferation. We are combating any other projects that come up in the (Highway) 64 corridor, or in Coconino County for that matter," she said.
Cyndy Cole can be reached at 913-8607 or at ccole@azdailysun.com.
Wind farm facts
SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first major wind farm for Coconino County and the state's largest to date.
LOCATION: About 13 miles north of Williams, and west of State Route 64, on private and state land (near Espee Road, west of Red Lake Wash, along Cataract Creek)
SIZE: The 62 wind turbines each stand 398 feet tall from blade to tip, with reinforced concrete foundations 58 feet wide and 7.5 feet deep
POWER: At 99 megawatts when running full-capacity, this is bigger than the wind farm between Holbrook and Heber by about one-third
POWER GENERATION: Would supply enough for about 29,000 homes when running at peak capacity; average/typical generation is roughly estimated to supply 8,700 homes
DURATION: The wind farm is to operate from this December or January 2012 into 2042 or beyond
COST: $180 million to $200 million to build
MOTIVATION: State regulations set by the Arizona Corporation Commission require utilities to supply 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025, and Arizona Public Service is now getting about 3 percent of its electricity from renewable resources
TAX GRANTS: $54 million to $60 million, estimated
BENEFICIARY: Power goes to Arizona Public Service, via a transmission line that runs between Phoenix and Page, and will often likely flow toward Phoenix
JOBS: 200 to 240 are employed in construction; 5 to 7 will be employed long-term
OWNED BY: The site is state land and private land owned by rancher Mike Macauley. The company leasing parts of the land across 20,000 acres will be owned NextEra Energy Resources.
WHAT UTILITY: NextEra Energy Resources is linked to a $15 billion parent company that also owns Florida Power & Light Company. NextEra describes itself as the largest wind-energy developer in North America.
14000 Abandoned Wind Turbines In The USA
"In the best wind spots on earth, over 14,000 turbines were simply abandoned. Spinning, post-industrial junk which generates nothing but bird kills…" [Interesting that bird kills keep surfacing over and over . . .] More at link:
http://toryaardvark.com/2011/11/17/14000-abandoned-wind-turbines-in-the-usa/
In reply to, "Why on earth should I, as a tax payer be forced to pay for someone else's solar panels?"
Why on earth as a taxpayer did you give NextEra (and other companies) $247 million (plus)? NextEra is a private entity too, only difference is that individuals would become self-reliant rather than being forever dependent on the electric companies.
Everything is temporary but we have a hundred or more years of coal and nuclear fuel. If we use reprocessing technologies we could make our nuclear fuel last thousands of years and reduce the storage problems as well. By spending more than we have to for energy we are hurting our economy.
Solar is currently even more expensive than wind. There are some promising technologies that involve using solar to turn water into steam and then use that to spin a turbine (similar to coal/nuc). We'll see how those work out.
source: www.focusonenergy.com/files/.../windturbinesandbirds_factsheet.pdf
Arcticgirl- even tho I completely agree w/you, I had to chuckle that you can't believe the 'commissioners' disregarded input from the citizens they're supposed to represent. My experience in dealing with them tells me all they really know how to do is think up new 'districts' or other ways to increase spending & taxes. They stare blank-faced whenever we address them in person. It's really sad, but just maybe our votes might possibly change things.
There is no way you can spin coal (and probably nuclear-given all the federal tailings and radiation clean-up bailouts) as being cleaner than wind in any way.
Why not relax, sit back, and see what happens?
Maybe some of them are but if the numbers in this article are correct this one clearly is NOT cheaper than coal.
Linda, try living next to a mountain top removal coal operation in West Virginia, or next to one of the open pit Peabody coal mines in northern Arizona. How about living next to a uranium dump or a long-term nuclear waste storage facility? You don't get my sympathy.
I am sorry this is close to your home, but would appreciate some additional information. Seems like quite a huge investment to only operate for 3 months.