Holiday Hill Community Wind
This community-scale wind project in Russell, Massachusetts, is an excellent example of community wind power in action.
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VERA served as the project manager for this two-turbine wind facility which began operations in Q4 2019. VERA directed every phase of project development since the project's conception including managing electrical interconnection process in ISO-NE, coordinating technical experts for a feasibility study which would ultimately lead to the project's permit approval, and successfully soliciting agreements for a power purchase and balance of plant contractor. This project was originally developed through VERA's partnership with the Russell Municipal Light Department. When the project reached a critical financial hurdle, VERA facilitated the project's transition to private ownership which allowed the project to continue forwards into its construction phase and ultimately commercial operation.
This project will benefit local Massachusetts ratepayers through tax payments, land lease payments, and through increased local economic activity in the form of jobs, food, lodging, and other goods and services obtained locally through and beyond construction. On a regional scale, Holiday Hill Community Wind will allow the involved municipal utilities to continue to work toward their commitment to use more renewable energy, reduce and help stabilize the prices of their long-term sources of electricity, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated average of 7,800 tons or more of carbon dioxide per year. As with all of our projects, local technical experts have been used whenever feasible for each stage of the development process.
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