BREEZY BUSINESS
Another renewable energy-producing wind farm in Gratiot is now turning
Gratiot County’s fifth wind farm is now operational.
Consumers Energy has announced that its Gratiot Farms wind project went online last month.
It features 60 turbines in North Shade and New Haven townships that will produce 150 megawatts of clean energy, enough to power about 58,000 residences.
“We are excited to have completed construction and bring Gratiot Farms online to serve customers,’’ Consumers Energy Vice President of Enterprise, Project Management, Engineering and Services Dennis Dobbs stated in a press release. “Each kilowatt we generate from renewable resources such as wind gets us closer to our clean energy plan goal.
“We are committed to be good neighbors in Gratiot County where our project is providing substantial local tax revenue and well-paying jobs.”
The utility has hired 10 employees to operate the electric generation facility from a service center that has been built in Middleton and scheduled to be completed in February.
About 250 workers were employed during construction of the wind farm.
Consumers Energy acquired the project from Enel Green Power America, which started the development. The utility took ownership and responsibility for completing construction in September 2019.
Consumers Energy has invested more than $260 million in the Gratiot Farms project, which is part of its plan for eliminating coal as an energy source.
The wind farm is located about 10 miles west of U. S. 127 and encompasses 20,000 acres on both sides of M-57. About 100 landowners are involved.
According to Consumers Energy, “Gratiot County is an ideal area for wind energy due to its consistent wind, elevation, proximity to transmission lines, environmental suitability and compatible land use.”
The county also has four other wind farms in operation.
The first was developed by Chicago- based Invenergy for DTE Energy in 2012, which includes 133 turbines in Wheeler, Bethany, Emerson and Lafayette townships. It’s the state’s largest wind farm.
Beebe Wind has 55 turbines in Emerson, North Star and Hamilton townships.
DTE also owns a wind farm, which includes 65 turbines that span Gratiot County’s Pine River Township and Coe Township in Isabella County.
In addition, another wind farm owned by DTE that has 69 turbines in Lafayette, Hamilton and North Star townships went online in 2020.
The county now has more than 380 wind turbines in operation.
Consumers Energy has created a video that allows the public to take a virtual tour of Gratiot Farms to see and hear what goes into the construction process.
It can be accessed on the utility’s website.