The wind turbine farm called "Stoney Corners Wind Project" is located in Missaukee County's Richland Township just outside of Cadillac.
RICHLAND TOWNSHIP -- Nestled within the hills of two-thousand acres of dairy farms in Missaukee county you can't miss them...nine wind turbines producing 19 megawatts of renewable energy. It's the "Stoney Corners Wind Project" and it's now certified fully operational with expansion on the way.
"We actually started leases seven years ago then put in a pilot two and a half mega watt two turbine in 2008. Then put up seven more in 2009, next year we hope to put up ten more," says CEO of Heritage Sustainable Energy, Marty Lagina.
Heritage Sustainable Energy out of Traverse City is working with DTE Energy out of Detroit on the project. Now that the wind farm is fully operational, it's also the the first one developed under that state's energy law that requires 10% of Michigan's power to come from renewable energy by 2015.
"Apart from that, whether you believe in carbon dioxide is a problem or not, it seems to me that fossil fuels are a problem so we have to be moving off those as a society. So, we have to start brining on alternative energy," says Lagina.
Lagina says the location in Missaukee County's Richland Township is ideal for the wind farm because it's the highest point in the lower peninsula and the farm is expected to supply enough electricity to power several thousands of homes in northern and southern Michigan.
"It's a very consistently windy region and that really matters because wind is a different resource anyway....At least several thousand homes will be powered by the machines and by this time next year, you can double that because we're going to have double the capacity here," says Lagina.
Lagina says by the end of next year, the companies plan to put up ten more wind turbines producing 20 megawatts of energy. He says Traverse City Light and Power will purchasing some of the power produced from the turbines.
