Green Oak Renewables LLC (GOR), a Michigan-based wind energy company, will present a plan to the Nebraska Public Power District on Sept. 1 to build the 10 MW Ogallala Wind Project. Howard Graves, vice president of International Industrial Contracting Corp., who is working with GOR, says the project will source nearly all needed materials and labor locally.
‘Local contractors and workers are essential to the success of our projects,’ he says. ‘We expect to spend approximately $4 million on Nebraska materials and labor for the construction of this wind farm.’
Local officials, companies and individuals have expressed support for a proposed $20 million wind farm that, if approved, would be built on farmland southeast of Ogallala, Neb. The proposed project would inject $4 million in local materials and labor and generate more than $35,000 of annual tax revenues, most of which would go to Ogallala Public Schools, according to the Nebraska Energy Expert Association.
‘For rural Nebraska to survive and thrive during these difficult economic times, it is essential to broaden the tax base,’ says Tim Geisert, president of the Nebraska Energy Export Association and an Ogallala native. ‘Adding $20 million of new property value in Keith County, producing a yearly tax increase of over $35,000 of new dollars through the production of Nebraska-made energy, is an opportunity we can't afford to pass up.’
SOURCES: Green Oak Renewables LLC, Nebraska Energy Export Association
