Taylor

Taylor

ELKINS — A representative from the AES Laurel Mountain Wind Project made an informational presentation before the Randolph County Commission Thursday at the James Cain Courthouse Annex.

Emily Taylor, who is part of the Wind Development team at AES, informed the commission about an upcoming repower plan that will not only take care of some required maintenance issues that are needed, but will also increase production from the 61 turbines currently in our area.

“Our plan now is to repower the facility, so what that entails is a partial repower so there will be no changes to the project footprint or any new turbines being constructed,” Taylor said. “What you will see is new turbine blades and some of the associated equipment that’s on the top of the turbine towers. So it’s a pretty quick swap of materials.”

The wind turbine project that started development back in 2005 has been operating on the Laurel Mountain ridgeline in Barbour and Randolph counties for the past 10 years. The 61 turbines produce 1.6 megawatts each for a total capacity of 97.6 megawatts.

“The reason we are doing this is that it can increase production by 25 percent, roughly, so a lot of people wonder why we are just doing that quick swap and that’s really the driving reason,” Taylor said. “Plus it extends the project’s life as well.”

The construction work on the project is expected to begin in March 2022 and run to November of next year.

“In March it will be just general civil site improvements, some tree clearing and improving the road radius, not too much the public would see during that,” Taylor said. “But then come May, the new components will start to come through town and people will start seeing blade trucks coming through and that type of equipment.”

Taylor said most of the new installation work will begin around June and that all the old blades will be recycled. The new blades being installed will be 23 feet longer than the current ones.

“The blades being 23 feet longer will really be the only visual impact of the entire plan,” Taylor said.

All of the windmills are located on privately owned land and there are currently 12 technicians that live in the area and work on the project. The project contributes $1.5 million in annual contributions through tax revenue, landowner payments and salaries for permanent employees.

“We expect all of those things to continue for the next 20 to 30 years as part of the repower,” Taylor said.

Commissioner David Kesling asked a question that’s always on the minds of locals when it comes to the windmills.

“The power that is generated here, where does it go?” Kesling said.

“That’s a good question and one that we get frequently,” Taylor replied. “I think that it’s difficult to say where the power exactly goes, you can’t really track where electrons are moving once they are inserted into the grid. But I think it’s safe to say that because the project is located in PJM, the power will be used as locally as it possibly can. But I can’t make a promise that it’s used locally here in Elkins.”

Some time before the project begins, AES will hold an open house for members of the public to come and learn more and ask any questions they may have.