MISSAUKEE/OSCEOLA COUNTY -- There are new details Thursday night on the expansion of the Stoney Corners Wind Farm. The man behind the project says construction on the last nine turbines will start up as soon as the snow melts.
7&4's Kate Fox caught up with him and found out where the turbines are going.
CEO of Heritage Sustainable Energy Mary Lagina says, "We have to first gather wind data that takes years, plan and order the turbines, components come from all over the world--we have to garner community support so that whole process takes years."
Lagina says that all that prep work is done and come May they'll break ground on the final nine turbines of the Stoney Corners Project---making the grand total 28 for the New Year.
Five of the new turbines will be put in Richland Township in Missaukee County and the other four in Highland Township in Osceola County--construction that will total 40 million dollars.
County Clerk of Highland Township Kathy Barnhart says many residents have been watching the prep work and are excited about what it means for their community.
Barnhart says, "They're going to bring in people to the area, there will be construction workers who will be here, and of course that means revenue into some of the businesses."
Lagina says the expansion will create hundreds of temporary jobs as well as a hand full of permanent ones. He also says the turbines mean royalty for some residents.
He explains, "Any land owner in the unit even if you own two acres if your within this unit you get paid a certain percentage...this wind-farm the whole thing we have down there when it's completed we'll be disappearing more than a half of million dollars in royalties to the land owners."
Lagina attributes the success of the project to the residents in the community the turbines are built in, “You read about places where there's big controversy regarding these, we think that the true issues are minimal--the key is to make sure the community is on board, educated and sort of knows what they're getting and we do our very best we can at that."
Lagina says the new turbines should be completed by August--creating a total of 60-mega watts of renewable energy for the project.
