ENB Region 5 Completed Applications 09/27/2006

Noble AltonaWindpark, LLC (Noble) is proposing to install and operate a wind-powered generating facility consisting of 68 wind turbines and associated facilities within an approximate 4,144-acre area in the Town of Altona, Clinton County, New York.

    Each turbine has a capacity of 1.5 megawatts (MW), and the combined total capacity of the project is approximately 102 (MW). In addition to the wind turbines, the project will involve the  construction and use of approximately 17.6 miles of access roads, an electrical collection system, a new substation constructed on a 1.62-acre parcel that will tie into an existing 230-kilovolt (kV) New York Power Authority (NYPA) Plattsburgh – Willis line to provide access to the grid, and associated staging areas for parking and storage. The actual project footprint will occupy approximately 150 acres within the project area.

    The wind turbines to be installed will be  General Electric (GE) 1.5 MW wind turbines with each turbine consisting of a tubular steel tower with a 77-meter-(253-foot)-diameter rotor, and a nacelle which houses the generator, transformer, and power train. The rotor and nacelle are mounted on top of the tower giving the rotor hub a height of 262 feet (80 meters).  Each turbine has a maximum height of approximately 389 feet (120 meters) with a rotor blade oriented straight up, and will occupy a concrete base with a diameter of approximately 18 feet. Aviation lights will be limited to the minimum required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and aviation warning lights will be installed only on structures along the project perimeter.

    A pad transformer will be located adjacent to the base of each tower, raising the voltage of the electricity produced by the turbine generator up to the 34.5 kV voltage level of the collection system.  The project will include approximately 9.9 miles of trenched-in ground and about 9.9 miles of overhead 34.5 kV electric cable to collect all the power from the turbines and terminate at the main substation. The new substation will be located on a 1.62 acre parcel approximately 300 feet to the west of the Military Turnpike, and approximately 2,000 feet south of Duley Road.

    Regulated freshwater wetlands and state-protected streams are located within the project area, and permits are required for the construction of access roads, the construction of the turbines, and the buried electric cable interconnection lines. The project as proposed will result in 0.49 acres of  temporary impacts and 0.065 acres of permanent impacts to DEC-jurisdictional freshwater wetlands, and 5.05 acres of impacts to DEC regulated wetland buffer area. The project also anticipates 80 linear feet of temporary and 25.56 linear feet of permanent impact to state-protected streams. The applicant is currently investigating mitigation options with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the NYSDEC to provide acceptable compensatory mitigation for the permanent impacts to both federal and state-regulated freshwater wetlands.