Staff writer
Crews broke ground Dec. 14 to meet 2013 tax deadlines on the wind farm planned between Marion, Peabody, and Florence. Mortenson Federal Contracting Group workers moved dirt and completed the initial phase of construction for three 10-feet-by-60-feet turbine pads.
Rex Savage of Windborne Energy said for now construction is halted until around June while the company finishes preparations.
“I expect when it begins it will be no secret,” he said. “They’re still doing some ground work and final engineering as well as collecting more wind data to make sure the turbines are placed in the right locations.”
Plans for turbine locations keep evolving, Savage said. The company gets wind data every 10 minutes from towers and solar readers placed around the construction property.
“We have a rough idea but are still not 100 percent sure where all the turbines will go,” he said.
Savage said he is excited to see the long-awaited project enter its next phase.
“I’m starting to get excited, but there are so many things beyond our control that I will breathe a sigh of relief when I finally see steel standing in the air,” he said.