CONNEAUT — City Council will have further conversations with a New York-based developer interested in erecting wind turbines in the Conneaut area, members agreed Thursday afternoon.
No proposals were broached during the hour-long meeting with BQ Energy, but council — impressed with the presentation — seemed open to more dialogue.
“I think we need to continue this discussion,” said Ward 2 Councilman Charles Lewis.
BQ is the third and most recent developer to contact the city about creating a wind farm in the surrounding area. Thursday’s meeting served as an informal introduction.
Land within the city-owned East Conneaut Industrial Park has been targeted by two developers. A purchase contract with one firm, SGR Site Associates, was recently tabled by council for further review.
BQ officials at Thursday’s meeting were non-committal regarding the city land.
“We’re interested (in sites) in and around the city of Conneaut,” said Tim Ryan, senior director. “We feel there could be one here, and the city property could be a part of it.”
BQ was created in 2003 and its management staff has experience with wind projects in a variety of locations, including Montana and Texas, Ryan said Tim Ryan, senior director. The company is a partner in an eight-turbine wind farm launched last year in Lackawanna, N.Y. More turbines are on their way, Ryan said. Last year, BQ helped launch an eight-turbine farm in Lackawanna, N.Y.
BQ — with offices in Patterson, Cleveland and Erie — is “actively developing (wind energy) sites in Ohio ,” Ryan said.
The company takes a “start-to-finish” approach to projects and is actively involved in every aspect, Ryan said.
Unlike the first two suitors, BQ prefers to lease land for its projects, council learned. “It’s more an easement than a lease,” Ryan said.
That arrangement would allow BQ to release land not used for turbines or access roads back to the city for other development, he said.
“We’re not in the real estate business,” Ryan said. “Land not needed for the wind project can be used for anything else. It’s a shared kind of use.”
Leases are typically lengthy — about 50 years — and are generally set up one of two different ways, Ryan said. The most common arrangement hinges on the megawatt value of the project, but in some cases a royalty-based plan is used, he said.
Local contractors with the proper experience and talent could be used in the construction process, Ryan said.
The farm will create only a handful of full-time jobs, between two and six depending on the size of the operation, said BQ’s Lorry Wagner. “Construction has the most (job) potential,” he said.
Ward 1 Councilman Dave Campbell, whose ward contains the industrial park, complimented the BQ representatives for their honesty. Other developers have not been so candid, he said.
“I’m seeing you’re the real McCoy,” Campbell said.
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