By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
ALLEGANY — Liberty Renewables has notified the Town of Allegany that it will delay seeking a permit for its Hemlock Hollow wind farm that would span the towns of Allegany, Olean and Portville.
Allegany Supervisor Christopher J. McPherson issued a statement on Monday that Liberty Renewables will slow its development of the Hemlock Hollow Wind Project and delay filing a permit this December with the New York State Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission (ORES).
McPherson’s statement said, “According to Liberty Renewables, the decision reflects a shift in the company’s immediate priorities toward advancing two other New York state projects into construction.”
He added: “The company will continue to reassess its priorities over the coming months and keep the Town informed of any future decisions regarding the project.
Liberty Renewables has proposed 19 wind turbines in the Hemlock Hollow project, enough to generate 95 megawatts of electricity and power 17,000 homes. Twelve would be located in the town of Allegany, five in Olean and two in Portville. The tip of the blades would extend about 650 above the ground.
More than 150 people attended a public meeting the Albany-based company held at Franchot Park to show project maps and talk about the proposed wind farm in early September. Liberty Renewables parent company is the Danish holding company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).
Construction was scheduled to start in 2028 and last into 2029. The wind farm had hoped to begin operations in 2029, with a 25-year lifespan.
Hemlock Hollow is one of the first alternative energy projects in the state to be co-located on active oil and gas infrastructure, thus bridging legacy and modern power infrastructure, the company said in its promotion of the proposed wind farm.
New York City-based Liberty Renewables said in a promotion for the community meeting that tens of millions of dollars in community host agreement payments from the project would go to the towns, Cattaraugus County and school districts.
Area residents seemed most concerned over the possibility that noise and infrasound from the wind turbines would affect the health of people living nearby as well as the visual impact of the 650-foot high structures sitting atop mountain ridges.
Kathy Boser, who lives in the Chipmunk area of Allegany where some of the turbines are proposed to be located, created a group, Save Our Enchanted Mountain Ridges Alliance (SOEMRA) to give residents a voice in the proposed wind farm.
In a statement to the Olean Star Tuesday, Boser said, “When I first heard the news, after a sigh of relief, my first thought was, great, this gives towns an opportunity to strengthen their wind laws or, in Portville’s case, create wind laws. I don’t feel we can afford to let our guards down just yet.”
Discover more from Olean Star
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
