Sp. Fork wind farm planned; information meeting Tuesday

A private company wants to plant a field of 200-foot-tall turbines in Utah County and transform an abandoned gravel pit into the state's first commercial wind farm.

Wasatch Wind has submitted an initial proposal to the Spanish Fork Planning Commission. Under the plan, the company would install seven turbines, each 213 feet tall with a wingspan of 252 feet at a site one mile from the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon.

The area "is one of the best in the nation for wind farms," company CEO Tracy Livingston said. Each 1.5-megawatt turbine is expected to produce enough electricity to power 600 homes.

The estimated cost of the project is $13 million.

Two additional turbines could be added in a second phase of the project if the company receives a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A town-hall style information meeting is planned for residents at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night at the Spanish Fork Fairgrounds

Spanish Fork City Council members must approve the project and a zoning change requested by the company.

According to Livingston, wind power uses no water or fuel and creates no haze, greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide or mercury. The turbines make only as much noise as a refrigerator and are not dangerous to birds, he added.

A new study shows wind farms do not reduce property values, Livingston said.

"And more importantly, the cost of energy from wind farms is competitive with coal or natural gas," he said.

Wasatch Wind is negotiating a contract with PacifiCorp, which would then buy and distribute the electricity produced at the wind farm, Livingston said. If their initial proposal is successful, the company would look to build more wind farms across Utah, he said.

Livingston said many other companies also want to build wind farms in Utah.