Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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January 17, 2013

World’s first utility-grade vertical wind turbine proposed for Pea Patch Ridge in Maryland

Elaine Blaisdell For the Daily Telegraph

NEW GERMANY — Noble Energy Systems of Ontario, Canada, is proposing 35 utility-grade vertical wind turbines for Pea Patch Ridge off Fairview Road in Garrett County. 

This will be the first energy complex of its kind in the world, according to the company’s website.

“As a typical Western Maryland mountain top, it is the perfect site to construct our first wind park,” states the NES website. “This energy complex will not be visible except from adjacent ridge lines. Regardless, these relatively small VWTs (vertical wind turbines) will be camouflaged to fit into the surrounding environment.”

The sails of the turbines can be colored to blend into the surroundings or to stand out depending on the community’s desires, ac-cording to the NES website.

NES has finalized a long-term land lease agreement for 100 acres on Pea Patch Ridge.

Only one conventional horizontal wind turbine would be able to be placed on 20 acres of land located on the mountain, according to the NES website.

The turbines will generate between 35 and 40 megawatts of power. The company anticipates that the first phase of the project will begin in May at a cost of approximately $45 million.

NES has contacted  Mohammed Eltayeb, chairman of the department of physics and engineering at   Frostburg State University, so faculty and staff can conduct their own testing of the wind turbines, according to Liz Medcalf, director of News and Media Services at FSU. 

Medcalf said the department has not performed the testing yet and is still in preliminary discussions.

NES owns the rights to erect the patented technology for the world’s first utility-grade vertical wind turbine, according to the NES website.

The vertical wind turbine energy comes from nine rectangular sails and the turbine section of the vertical wind turbines spins at a rate of 250 to 300 revolutions per minute, according to the NES website.

The turbines have a much smaller footprint, at 35 feet, and height requirements of 108 feet than convention industrial wind turbines.

The wind turbines are perceived by birds and bats as a wall, and the creatures will simply avoid the structure by flying around it, states the NES website.

An attempt to contact NES for this story was unsuccessful.

For more information, visit the website at  http://www.nobleenergysystems.com

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