By Mary Drier
Staff Writer
GILFORD TOWNSHIP — The first wind farm in Tuscola County is fully operational, and was completed ahead of schedule.
While wind farms have been operational for awhile in other parts of the state, they are new to Tuscola County.
NextEra Energy Resources LLC built 68 wind turbines in Gilford Township and seven in Blumfield Township to create the “Tuscola – Bay Wind Farm.”
“The (wind) farm was operational on Dec. 2,” said Keith Kosik, who is the Gilford Township Zoning administrator.
The company’s target date for completion had been by the end of the year so it was completed ahead of their deadline.
Besides the combined 75 turbines, NextEra also build a power sub-station in Bay County as part of the project.
NextEra invested over $250 million to build the wind farm. Each turbine in the Tuscola – Bay Wind Farm is 262 feet from the base to the hub with 150-foot long blades attached to it. Each turbine is 1.6 megawatts. Overall the farm will be 120 megawatts, which is enough power for 50,000 homes.
The official commercial operation date was December 13, according to Mary Wells with NextEra.
Mary Drier is a staff writer for the Tuscola County Advertiser. She can be reached at drier@tcadvertiser.com.
