Mount Storm Wind Farm

The Mount Storm Wind Farm is located 120 miles west of Washington, D.C. in Grant County, West Virginia. The wind farm includes 132 Gamesa G80 wind turbines each with a two megawatt (MW) capacity along 12 miles of the Allegheny Front. Construction of the wind farm began in 2006 and the project is now fully operational, generating up to 264 MW of electricity for the mid-Atlantic power grid.[1]

Mount Storm Wind Farm
The wind farm as seen from the highway
CountryUnited States
LocationGrant County, West Virginia
Coordinates39°13′28″N 79°12′15″W
StatusOperational
Construction began2006
Commission date2008
Owner(s)Shell Wind Energy,
Dominion Energy
Wind farm
TypeOnshore
Power generation
Units operational132 turbines
Make and modelGamesa G80-2.0 MW
Nameplate capacity264 MW
Capacity factor26.4% (average 2009-2019)
Annual net output613 GW·h

Nedpower Mount Storm, LLC is a joint venture between Shell and Dominion Resources, founded in 2007.[2][3]

History

Plans for the farm were first announced in 2001, when U.S. Wind Force filed for a permit with the West Virginia Public Service Commission to build a 166 turbine wind farm, which would have been the largest wind farm east of the Mississippi River. The project's backers hoped that the first turbines would be operational by late 2002 with the rest of the facility coming online in 2003, but opponents quickly raised objections, arguing that the project would threaten birds and diminish home values in the surrounding area.[4]

In May 2002, the Public Service Commission approved U.S. Wind Force's permit application without any significant opposition. The company also reached an agreement with the AFL-CIO to use union labor in the construction of the facility. At the hearings for the permit, speakers in favor of the project included Walt Helmick, a member of the West Virginia Senate, Jeff Barger, the County Commissioner of Grant County, and Steve White a union leader. A study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that the project posed little danger to local birds, clearing the way for construction.[5]

Electricity production
Mount Storm Wind Electricity Generation (MW·h)[6]
YearTotal Annual MW·h
2008 222,471
2009 579,436
2010 702,979
2011 654,187
2012 587,120
2013 600,277
2014 604,750
2015 618,493
2016 633,024
2017 566,611
2018 611,330
2019 579,690
Average (2009-2019)612,536

Turbine Losses (to fire)
  1. (January 16, 2008)[7]
  2. (January 7, 2015)[8]
  3. (2018 *requires date verification and siting)

See also

References
  1. Dominion & Shell Complete 264-MW Mount Storm Wind Project
  2. , "Company Overview of Nedpower Mount Storm, LLC","Bloomberg Businessweek"
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2015-05-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Nyden, Paul (December 28, 2001). "Grant Wind Farm Will be Largest in East". The Charleston Gazette. p. 1C.
  5. Steelhammer, Rick (May 30, 2002). "Grant wind farm developers reach agreement with union". The Charleston Gazette. p. 5A.
  6. "Mount Storm Wind, Annual". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  7. Watch, National Wind. "Mt. Storm turbine catches fire". National Wind Watch. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  8. Watch, National Wind. "Wind turbine catches fire in Mount Storm". National Wind Watch. Retrieved 2020-07-11.


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