Avangrid Renewables has begun commercial operations at its newest wind project – and its first in Vermont – the Deerfield Wind Farm.
Located in the towns of Readsboro and Searsburg, the 30 MW project includes 15 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines producing enough renewable energy to power roughly 14,000 average Vermont homes annually. Avangrid Renewables will own and operate the wind farm and will sell the energy to Green Mountain Power under a 25-year power purchase agreement.
The two towns combined will receive direct annual payments expected to total $6.8 million over the life of the project, and the wind farm will generate an estimated $6 million in tax payments to the state to support education funding, says Avangrid.
Avangrid notes that the facility is the first wind farm on U.S. Forest Service (USFS) land.
“This project in concept has been at the forefront of our program of work for many years,” comments John Sinclair, forest supervisor for the Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests. “Today we are proud to recognize the dedicated USFS employees, local leaders, partners and government agencies that have contributed countless hours of work toward making the development of our nation’s first commercial-scale wind energy facility on National Forest System lands a reality here in Vermont.”
The developer says project construction created nearly 200 jobs at its peak. More than 25 New England-based companies worked on the wind farm, including 11 from Vermont, supplying a range of services from labor and materials to engineering and electrical work.
“We are able to celebrate this milestone because of the hard work of our many partners, especially at the local level,” says Dave Carroll, vice president of projects for Avangrid Renewables. “Working with Green Mountain Power, the U.S. Forest Service and the local communities means we’re able to create clean energy and local economic benefits in rural Vermont.”
