Kingdom Community Wind Project, USA

The Kingdom Community Wind project is a 63MW wind farm to be built in Lowell, Orleans County, Vermont, US. The project is being jointly developed by Green Mountain Power Corporation (GMP) and Vermont Electric Co-op (VEC) under a partnership formed in October 2009. The estimated investment in the project is $150m.

GMP will own the wind farm and VEC will receive the power generated. The arrangement is part of VEC's strategy to partner with companies interested in building facilities that will supply power to its customers. Reed & Reed is the contractor for the project.


Vermont state regulators approved the project in June 2011. Construction is expected to commence in August 2011. The project is scheduled for completion in December 2012.
 p>The new wind farm is expected to reduce pollution in the region by displacing 75,000t of carbon dioxide emissions annually. The project will also lower electricity prices for customers. It is expected to generate nearly $40m in federal production tax credits, which will help in reducing the amount customers pay for the power they use. The power generated will meet the requirements of 20,000 households.


The project is expected to provide an economic boost to the region with the creation of new jobs. It is also expected to generate facilities tax and property tax payments. The payments will be diverted to the state education fund and also to the Good Neighbour Fund, which supports five neighbouring communities.
Site

The Lowell Mountain Range has been chosen as the site for the construction of the wind farm. A three-mile portion of the mountain range will be used for constructing the wind farm. The site is a working timber farm with elevations in the area ranging from 2,200ft to 2,600ft. The area features strong and persistent winds in the west north-west direction making it an ideal location for building the wind farm.

An environmental assessment study was conducted at the site in 2008 by Vermont Environmental Research Associates. The study did not identify any serious impact on the region due to the wind farm.
Plant details

The wind farm will have 21 wind turbines erected across 2000 acres. The site will be accessible through an exclusive road along Route 100 of Lowell.

In June 2011, GMP selected Vestas to provide wind turbines for the project. Vestas will provide its V112 3MW turbines, which are expected to reduce the power generation costs from the estimated 10.3 cents per kWh to 9.2 cents per kWh.

The turbines are 400ft tall and have a rotor diameter of 367ft. The blades are 179ft long. The turbines feature various noise modes that can be used to meet specific noise level restrictions.
Grid network

Three transmission lines will be used to transfer electricity generated by the wind farm to the grid network. Two 34.5kV transmission lines run along Route 58 and Route 100 of Lowell. Another 46kV transmission line passes from Lowell to Irasburg. These lines will transmit power from the wind farm to two existing substations owned by VEC and Central Vermont Public Service Corporation. The close proximity of the transmission network will further reduce the cost of the project.
Power market

The project will reduce the need to import power to fulfil the electricity demand in the region. Power imports form 70% of VEC's operating expenses. With the construction of the new wind farm, VEC expects to secure low-cost and reliable power for the region. The project will also satisfy 6-8% of the generation needs of GMP and 4% of the generation needs of VEC.