Experimental windmill proposed for Sullivan

Project inches forward with lawmaker approval

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — A video was used to introduce an experimental type of windmill to Sullivan County lawmakers who liked what they saw.

It’s called a vertical shaft windmill, and the blades spin around like a carousel rather than a Ferris wheel. Supporters say the vertical style beats the horizontal style because the part that produces electricity, the turbine, can be placed at or below ground level, which makes construction and maintenance much easier than the turbine of a horizontal windmill, which must be located more than 100 feet in the air.

Moreover, the vertical windmill is not nearly as tall, and the impact on migrating birds is less. Advocates also say the vertical windmill is much quieter than the horizontal.

Don Perry, vice president of the Sullivan County Partnership of Economic Development, told lawmakers that a Japanese company called Environmental Technologies, Inc. (ETI) had been working on development for 18 years, and had built smaller working prototypes. He said the company wants to construct a version of the windmill at the green technology park that is being created at Sullivan County Community College (SCCC).

Perry said the full-size prototype would be rated at 1.2 megawatts. Once that was up and running, the plan was to manufacture more windmills, with the capacity of generating up to three to five megawatts of power for sale to utilities who would use them in large wind farms. Perry said ETI would provide funding for the project, except for the land, which would be made available by the green tech park.

Marc Baez, president and CEO of the partnership, said they had contacted several metal fabricating companies in Sullivan County, including Quickway Metal Manufacturers and Liberty Ironworks, about the possibility of manufacturing components that would go into the windmills.

Because the green tech park will be located in Fallsburg, the Fallsburg Planning Board must approve it, as will the SCCC board of trustees. Lawmaker Leni Binder, who represents part of Fallsburg, said the planning board had seen an initial concept of the plan and members were receptive to the proposal. Lawmaker Ron Hiatt, who also represents part of Fallsburg, said the project was “going in the right direction, and is nothing but a plus for the area.”

Lawmakers voted to allow ETI to move forward with the pre-application process.

However, not everyone is as enthusiastic about vertical shaft technology as Perry and Baez. Joe Swaha, the construction manager with an Ontario-based company called Sustainable Energy Development, said that vertical windmills have not really proven themselves at this point, and in his experience, they don’t deliver what the manufacturers promise in terms of output.

After the windmill presentation, county manager David Fanslau told lawmakers that the best way to move forward with the green technology park was for the county and the college to form a joint venture. He asked the legislature for $30,000 as “seed money” to help move the process forward and lawmakers agreed.