GE wind farm at Fenner, NY
In March 2005, the Cornell Energy and Sustainability Department Energy Management Section announced that the university would be studying the possibility of producing wind-generated electricity from atop Mt. Pleasant. The decision to pursue renewable energy was prompted by a request from the student organization, KyotoNow!. Wind energy was chosen because the university has already maximized its capacity to produce hydropower on Fall Creek, and solar energy cannot produce enough energy in the Ithaca area to make it cost effective at the present installation cost.
Prior to March 2005, Cornell conducted a one year pre-feasibility study that investigated whether locally produced wind-generated electricity would be cost effective for the Ithaca campus. The study also considered multiple sites within a 15 mile radius of the campus. After careful consideration, the Mt. Pleasant site was chosen for further analysis.
The wind farm was to consist of eight 1.5 MW towers which would provide 10-15% of Cornell's energy. Although there were challenges associated with the Mt. Pleasant site, it also had many benefits:
- Cornell owns the land,
- the site was mostly cleared, therefore site disturbance would be minimal
- the land was flat, thereby reducing erosion potential
- the site was ideal for connecting to the grid or directly to campus - meaning there would be minimal disturbance
The challenges to the construction of the wind farm were many. First, the university's observatory is nearby and there was concern that the wind towers would blur the vision. Also, Mt. Pleasant is near the flight path of airplanes flying in and out of the Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport and the FAA would need to approve the wind farm. Finally, the residents in the area were significantly opposed to the wind farm and about 400 community members signed a petition seeking a prohibition of wind towers in the immediate area.
Although local Ithaca residents usually support Cornell's environmental initiatives, there was enough opposition together with the significant other technical issues that the university decided to suspend its efforts to pursue wind generated energy. Utility scale wind energy could still happen in Tompkins County, and there continues to be students and community members that support a wind farm.
For more information, check out the websites in the sidebar above or contact W. S. (Lanny) Joyce, P.E. Director of Energy Management at wsj1@cornell.edu.
