Broome County’s First Wind Farm May Become Operational This Month

After several years of debate, planning and construction, more than two dozen turbines of the Binghamton area's first wind farm could be generating power very soon.

The 122 megawatt Bluestone Wind Project consists of 26 turbines in eastern Broome County. 22 of the massive turbines are located in the town of Sanford. The remainder are in the town of Windsor.

Northland Power of Canada had expected commercial operation to start by the end of last year. But that didn't happen and many people who pass by the still turbines along Route 17 have wondered why they aren't in use.

Sanford town supervisor Kenneth Wist said "lots of dates have come and gone" regarding the planned start of the project. He said company representatives had cited a variety of reasons for the delays.

Wist said a project manager recently told town board members Bluestone could be operational by the end of July. But operations have yet to begin and it's not clear why.

Northland Power representatives have not responded to repeated messages seeking information about the delays and when they expect commercial operations to start.

Wist said there apparently have been infrastructure issues that have affected the project timetable. He also noted a "substantial amount of testing" is needed at each turbine before the wind farm can become operational.

Once the project is running, road repair work will be needed to fix the damage caused by construction of the wind farm in recent months.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.