A new 250 MW wind farm is up and running in Hardin and Logan counties in Ohio. RWE Renewables announced June 2 its Scioto Ridge Wind Farm started commercial operation. The project includes 75 turbines.
Scioto Ridge is contributing more than $75 million to the local governments, school districts and landowners, said Silvia Ortin, chief operations officer for onshore wind and solar PV Americas, RWE Renewables. The wind farm should create enough electricity to power the equivalent of 60,000 homes a year.
The project created 10 full-time long-term jobs for operations and maintenance workers. It also employed about 150 people during construction. It was initially certified by the Ohio Power Siting Board in 2014, but went through several amendments.
The project was developed by Everpower Wind Holding, which was acquired by German energy company Innogy SE. RWE Renewables took over the project from Innogy in July 2020, after construction had begun.
This is RWE Renewables’ first project in Ohio. RWE has developed, built and operates 27 wind farms and more than 4,300 MW of wind energy projects across the U.S.
Scioto Ridge joins eight other utility-scale wind farms in Ohio. Six of them are located in Paulding County. There is one other — Hog Creek — in Hardin County. There are two others approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board, but both have faced hurdles in getting built. The Greenwich Windpark relinquished its Ohio Power Siting Board certificates June 2.
Three more wind projects in the pending or pre-application phase. Wind development slowed in Ohio after state law was changed in 2014 to increase the setbacks for wind turbines. Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill earlier this year to decrease those setbacks.
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People see the wind turbines shutdown and think they are a waste. Quote: “Can’t be doing maintenance on sixty turbines at once.”
More information as to how wind farms operate will do much to help inform the green energy skepticism.