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FirstEnergy to Purchase Wind Farm's Electricity

Posted on: Tuesday, 28 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By David DeKok, The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.

Mar. 28--FirstEnergy Corp. Monday said it has agreed to buy the entire 80-megawatt output of electricity to be produced in the first phase of a wind farm being built near Altoona by Gamesa Energy USA.

The 23-year agreement is the biggest wind-energy deal in Pennsylvania history, illustrating the growth of the wind-power industry in the state over the last several years.

Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm, the name of the development, will increase the total wind-power output in the state by 57 percent, to 220 megawatts.

In comparison, that is a quarter of the output of Unit 1 at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant and about half the output of the coal- and oil-fired Sunbury Steam Electric Plant formerly owned by PPL Corp.

"It's good news," said John Hanger, president of the Penn Future environmental policy group in Harrisburg. "It's another sign that Pennsylvania is leading the way to a clean energy future. The way we make electricity right now is bad for consumers and bad for public health."

Gamesa plans to erect 40 wind turbines in the first phase of the Allegheny Ridge project, with each producing 2 megawatts of electricity. They are expected to be operational by early next year.

Earlier this month, Gamesa disclosed plans to build three advanced-technology plants in Bucks County to make windmill blades and towers and for the assembly of nacelles, which house the wind turbines. They will join another blade plant Gamesa is building in Cambria County, a few miles from the wind farm.

The wind farm will be in the service territory of Pennsylvania Electric Co., a FirstEnergy subsidiary, although it shares the territory with a rural electric cooperative.

"Gamesa Energy is a worldwide leader in wind-power projects, and we are very pleased to work with the company on a project of this magnitude," said Guy Pipitone, senior vice president for operations strategy and development at FirstEnergy.

When combined with FirstEnergy's existing wind-power contracts, he said, the company would have 360 megawatts of wind-generated electricity under contract.

Gamesa has placed a sampling tower on top of Mahantango Mountain in Upper Paxton Twp., just below the Northumberland County line, to see how wind turbines would work there.

Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed has proposed using a $360,295 grant from the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority to determine if there is enough wind on the mountaintop overlooking DeHart Dam to support a wind farm.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.

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FE, PPL, PNELP,

Source: The Patriot-News

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