Gamesa and its partner Harvest the Wind Network (HTWN) are jointly working on a community wind project to help HARBEC Plastics, a western New York manufacturer, offset retail energy rates and zero-out carbon emissions.
This is Gamesa's first distributed wind project with Harvest the Wind. The two companies signed an agreement in March that makes Harvest the Wind a primary distributor of Gamesa's family of G5X-850 kW turbines for community and distributed wind energy projects. Harvest the Wind's regional partner, Sustainable Energy Developments (SED), designed, permitted, and will install the G58 turbine on a 55-meter tower at the Wayne Industrial Sustainability Park, where HARBEC is located. SED is a regional distributed wind pioneer and quality leader in the Northeast U.S. Construction is set to begin in September 2012, and the project is scheduled to be completed and online by the end of the year.
HARBEC Plastics will use one of Gamesa's G58-850 kW turbines to supply electricity directly to its plant in Ontario, N.Y., located approximately 25 miles east of Rochester. The company, recognized as a premier "green molder" in specialized plastics production, is working to make its facility carbon neutral by 2013.
With this new turbine, HARBEC is adding additional on-site wind power to its existing highly efficient electricity generating technology, a combined heat and power plant. Together, the systems will dramatically minimize fuel consumption and significantly reduce energy costs, making HARBEC more competitive in the global marketplace.
"This project highlights our continued efforts to harness the vast potential of wind energy in order to power local economies and help businesses grow," said David Rosenberg, vice president of marketing for Gamesa North America.
"HARBEC Plastics, already an environmentally responsible company, is a great example of how a local company and industrial park can benefit from distributed wind," said Haley Estes, vice president of Harvest the Wind Network. "With our first project underway, we're excited to see what we can achieve with Gamesa in helping more businesses across the U.S. adopt cleaner power."
Community and distributed wind energy projects
Gamesa’s G5X-850 kW platform, renowned for its outstanding reliability and excellent output, is a perfect fit for community and distributed wind energy projects, and is among one of the fastest-growing segments in the U.S. wind industry.
First installed in 2001, the turbine’s performance is well tested and validated, with nearly 9,500 units installed around the world. Its flexibility for development in any environment or condition is vital to developers as community and distributed wind energy projects occupy a variety of terrains.