Community wind energy project in Portland

July 16, 2020

EWT is developing a 7-megawatt community wind energy project in Portland, New York under New York State’s Community Distributed Generation program. This community wind energy project offers a unique opportunity for energy consumers in Portland to benefit from renewable energy without installing or maintaining any equipment on their properties. If you pay a National Grid bill, you are eligible to join this Community DG project. The project has 7 wind turbines across 2 sites:

CDG Program in National Grid Territory
Community Distributed Generation (CDG) is a New York utility-regulated program that allows communities to benefit from affordable renewable energy. Each month, subscribers receive credits from National Grid that reduce the overall cost of their monthly electric bill. More information about the CDG program can be found on the website of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/-/media/NYSun/files/Meetings/2015-08-27/CDG-Webinar.pdf

Unlike the large utility-scale wind farms elsewhere in the state, this project will (and is required by state law to) send the value of generated energy directly to customers. And since we sell it at a discount, this means every household and small business in Portland that is a National Grid customer and signs up for the program will save on their annual electricity costs, every year. As an exclusive set of benefits for the town, EWT is committing to at least a 10% discount on electricity bill credits, reserved subscriptions, and a $100 sign-up bonus for all Portland households and small businesses. We estimate total lifetime utility bill savings potential for Portland households to be more than $3 million.

Why Portland?
First, Portland’s close proximity to Lake Erie provides steady and predictable wind. Second, Portland’s many acres of valuable agricultural land mean it’s primed for low land-use development like wind, which does not interfere with agricultural operations. Third, Portland has strong National Grid power lines that run through the town which are critical for CDG projects.

Benefits
We strongly believe that this wind energy project brings many benefits to Portland: lower energy bills for Portland residents, income for the Town in the form of PILOT- and Host Community Agreement payments, continued use of agricultural land, local clean energy, education,  economic development and grid upgrades. Learn more about the project  and its benefits in our community information session 22 July.

Join our community information session
We will be hosting a community information session on 22 july 2020 at 7:00 p.m. to share details about the proposed community wind project in Portland, including a virtual site tour, and to answer your questions. We invite all Town of Portland residents to participate and to submit questions about the project to portland@ewtdirectwind.com. Register for the community information session here!