Officials from General Motors and Starwood Energy Group joined Ohio lawmakers, county officials and local landowners today at a press conference to unveil the Northwest Ohio Wind Farm, a 100-megawatt wind project under construction in Paulding County, Ohio. Power purchased from the wind farm will help offset the power used at General Motors’ Ohio and Indiana manufacturing facilities with clean, renewable energy.
“The Northwest Ohio Wind Farm is an important step toward achieving our sustainability commitments, and we thank Starwood Energy Group and the Paulding County community for helping make this project possible,” said Rob Threlkeld, global manager of renewable energy for General Motors. “As we realize our vision for a zero emissions future, renewable energy will help us to efficiently build vehicles while providing a greener grid to power them.”
General Motors has pledged to generate or source all electrical power for its facilities globally with 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. The automaker is buying a total of 200 megawatts of wind energy from the Northwest Ohio Wind Farm, along with a wind farm in Illinois. When the wind energy from both farms comes on line later this year, General Motors will be 20 percent of the way to its goal. Construction for the Northwest Ohio Wind Farm is ongoing and is expected to be completed during the third quarter of 2018.
“We are happy to partner with General Motors to provide the clean energy it needs to help meet its sustainability goals,” said Alex Daberko, Managing Director of Starwood Energy Group. “We appreciate GM’s continued support, as well as that of Paulding County and the broader community, in helping to advance this project.”
The construction effort is expected to create roughly 300 direct jobs and bring nearly $1 million in additional local tax revenue to Paulding County annually, which will be used to fund local schools and community services.
“The Northwest Ohio Wind Farm will be a valuable and welcome asset to our community by providing much needed tax revenue for our schools and roads,” said Paulding County Commissioner Roy Klopfenstein. “We thank Starwood Energy and everyone involved in this project for choosing our community to build the wind farm. The entire county will benefit for years to come.”
According to a recent report by the American Wind Energy Association, over 2,000 Ohioans now work in the wind industry, double the over 1,000 workers employed in the state in 2015. However, wind industry growth has slowed in the state with a change to the property setback law requirements for new wind projects in 2014. The Northwest Ohio Wind Farm was grandfathered in under the old rules.
Photos of the wind farm can be found here.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published May 3, 2018 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST