Invenergy Wins Approval for New York’s Largest Wind Generation Project

The New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment on June 3 granted a permit, allowing Alle-Catt Wind Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Invenergy LLC, to construct a 340-megawatt wind generating facility in Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Wyoming counties. The $454 million facility, spanning about 30,000 acres, is expected to generate up to $78 million in local property tax revenues over 20 years. The project is the largest approved by the siting board to date, after Invenergy’s 290-megawatt Canisteo Wind project in Steuben County.

Alle-Catt said that local landowners will receive more than $2.7 million annually over the life of the project through lease payments, providing a consistent stream of supplemental revenue for family farms. In the first year, the project is estimated to provide $7 million in direct economic benefits to host communities for the payment-in-lieu-of-tax or PILOT, host community agreement payments, fire district taxes, and leaseholder payments. Over the life of the project, Alle-Catt estimates that annual property tax and tax-related payments include PILOT and host community agreement, and up to $3.2 million in local property taxes.

The state has a goal of sourcing 70 percent of its power from renewables by 2030 and transition to carbon-free power by 2040.