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Antrim Wind Farm to Get a Second Shot at State Approval

Saratoga Associates
A simulation of what the first Antrim wind proposal would have looked like from the Willard Pond Wildlife Sanctuary.

A proposal to construct 9 large wind turbines in Southwestern New Hampshire will be allowed to go before state regulators again. The Site Evaluation Committee has decided the previously rejected Antrim wind farm has changed its proposal enough to get a second chance.

Eolian Renewable Energy’s original proposal for the Antrim wind farm was for ten-turbines, and to produce 30 megawatts on the windiest days. State Regulators rejected the project in 2013 because of the aesthetic impact it would have had on the region.

Now the company has proposed eliminating one turbine, and making another about 46 feet shorter, and using more powerful turbines in the remaining nine so the project will still generate nearly 29 megawatts.

A sub-committee of the state’s SEC has voted 5 to 2 that this was enough of a change to get a second-hearing. However, in its order, the committee writes “whether the differences in the proposals are material enough to require a different result …cannot be determined” until they see the company’s application.

Once that application has been submitted – and the deadline is January 24th, 2016 – the SEC will then decide if the revised project can be built.

Sam Evans-Brown has been working for New Hampshire Public Radio since 2010, when he began as a freelancer. He shifted gears in 2016 and began producing Outside/In, a podcast and radio show about “the natural world and how we use it.” His work has won him several awards, including two regional Edward R. Murrow awards, one national Murrow, and the Overseas Press Club of America's award for best environmental reporting in any medium. He studied Politics and Spanish at Bates College, and before reporting was variously employed as a Spanish teacher, farmer, bicycle mechanic, ski coach, research assistant, a wilderness trip leader and a technical supporter.
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