Also receives $15 million from federal taxpayers for alternative energy project
By Caleb Taylor | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — Environmental groups and public officials say a state grant for a wind farm will bring economic growth and promote the energy industry, but a conservative economic group says the grant helps businesses that are "tax eaters."
The Patton Wind Farm in Cambria County recently received a $3.2 million grant from the state taxpayer-funded Renewable Energy Program to purchase and install 15 new wind turbines in Elder, West Carroll and East Carroll townships
However, the state’s contribution is a fraction of the cost for the project, which is expected to create only three jobs. The Patton Wind Farm is a $57.1 million project that also is receiving $39 million from private money and $15 million from the federal government.
The wind turbines are expected to produce 94.6 million kilowatt-hours of energy annually, according to the state Department of Community and Economic Development, or DCED, which encourages economic growth. The average annual electrical energy consumption of a household in the United States is 8,900 kilowatt-hours.
OwnEnergy, a New York-based renewable energy company, is developing the farm. OwnEnergy has similar projects in 13 other states.
OwnEnergy did not return requests for comment Monday and Friday.
C. Alan Walker, secretary of the DCED, said the grant will strengthen Pennsylvania’s commitment to safe energy technology.
"These new projects help businesses, families and local communities save money by becoming more energy efficient,” said Walker.
Jan Jarrett, president and CEO of PennFuture, a Harrisburg-based environmental group, said the grant would create jobs indirectly by “keeping busy” businesses that make materials such as “blades and turbines” for windmills.
Equipment used for the project will be purchased from Gamesa, a Spain-based corporation that constructs wind turbines and wind farms with two manufacturing plants in Bucks and Cambria counties, according to a statement by state Sen. John Wozniak, D-Cambria and state Rep. Gary Haluska, D-Cambria.
But the project itself will create only three jobs, according to the DECD.
Theresa Elliott, DECD spokeswoman, said the Renewable Energy Fund’s “primary goal is to promote clean, safe and renewable energy … not job creation.”
Nathan Benefield, director of policy analysis for the Commonwealth Foundation, an economically conservative think tank in Harrisburg, said the grant doesn't create job growth because "government doesn’t have any money of its own" to create jobs.
Government “takes money out of people elsewhere to redistribute to others. It is like taking water from one end of a pool and dumping it in the other end," said Benefield.
Wind energy is cheaper to produce than some energy sources but more expensive than natural gas. Onshore wind production costs 17 cents per kilowatt hour, which is the basic unit of measure for electricity production, according to the state Public Utility Commission, which regulates energy companies.
By comparison, natural gas production costs 6 cents per kilowatt hour, coal production costs about 12 cents per kilowatt hour and solar energy production costs between 33 cents and 65 cents per kilowatt hour.
The Renewable Energy Fund, which contributed to the wind power project, is managed by the state Department of Environmental Protection, DCED and the state Commonwealth Financing Authority. The fund has a budget of $17.9 million.
The authority borrows funds independent of the state budget to finance various programs. As of June, the authority had a total $1.4 billion in bonded debt.
Wozniak said investments in alternative energy would help spur economic growth.
“Pennsylvania has been a leader in development of alternative energy and this grant will help continue that momentum,” Wozniak said. “The economy of the 21st century will depend on our ability to innovate and develop new technology.”
According to the DCED, the Highland Wind Project in Cambria County received a $6 million grant from the Alternative Energy Grant Program, a state program that gives grants to alternative energy projects, that has created no jobs.
