The Northeast isn’t exactly the first place you think of when you hear the word “farm,” but New York is the latest in a string of states along the Eastern Seaboard to set aside money for the construction of wind farms. In a statement released by the office of Gov. George Pataki, the state has given more than $17 million to help develop five wind farms that will add 315MW of electric capacity to the power grid, which has shown signs of being unable to provide sufficient power to its customers.
Once operational, the farms will generate enough power in upstate New York to power almost 315,000 homes. The more than 200 turbines will cost $365 million to build and be spread out over five counties.
Pataki’s decision to provide funds for the project supports his recent executive order that requires state-owned facilities to buy 10% of their power from renewable resources by 2005 and 20% by 2010.
