North Carolina is known for its agricultural roots, but a proposed turbine project may put the area on the map as the state's first commercial wind farm.
Locals call thousands of acres of in north eastern North Carolina -- the desert. It's a place where punishing winds whip open farmland.
It's the kind of location Craig Poff, Senior Project Developer for Iberdrola Renewables, dreams about. It has thousands of acres, located near an electricity transmission line. where the wind constantly blows.
Test towers collect data like wind speed and direction. This will determine whether Iberdrola Renewables, who claims to be the world’s leading provider for wind power, will plant turbines along the Pasquotank - Perquimans line.
Shelly Cox is Planning Director for Pasquotank County.
"When I first thought of the potential in our area, I thought about the sound area. I was kind of surprised when he said the desert area, which is much further inland than what I would have expected," she says.
Turns out, thousands of acres of breezy farmland where the average wind speed exceeds 15 miles per hour, may be the perfect fit for the proposed 300 megawatt deal. Iberdrola expects to pay over 600 million dollars for road improvements and turbine construction costs. About one million of that will pay to rent land from farmers like Horace Pritchard. Pritchard calculates his 25 year lease should pay
6000 dollars per turbine per year. He's hoping to end up with 10 turbines and a financial safety net.
"Even when we have a bad year with crops we'll still keep the farm," says Pritchard.
Farmers will lose just about 2 percent of acreage to the massive structures. They can still farm the rest.
Both Perquimans and Pasquotank recently passed noise ordinances to clear another hurdle for construction planned for as early as the fall of 2011.
Poff explains, "During the construction phase we expect between 200 and 400 workers on site for about 12 to 24 months. Once it's built it should provide for about 15 to 20 full time employees for the life of the project."
Most projects span twenty to 50 years. During that time,
Iberdrola Renewables will pay property taxes with no water or sewer investment required from the local community.
Community leaders warn, consumers shouldn't expect immediate changes in their power bills if their power source changes. Back in 2007, North Carolina lawmakers mandated by the year 2020, electric utilities here must get at least 12.5 percent of electricity from renewable power sources.
Economic Developer Wayne Harris hopes the desert wind power project will generate more interest in the region and lure other green energy companies to come here too. "Oh the P-R value is huge; we're going to be the first wind project in North Carolina. So that is huge."
Iberdrola filed an application with the state's utilities commission back in January as part of the regulatory review process.
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