Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Wind Farm Proposed for Beaufort County

A utility based in Chicago is proposing an 80-megawatt wind farm in eastern North Carolina. The company Invenergy sent an application to state officials last week for a facility with 49 turbines at a site in Beaufort County. Jay Lucas is an engineer with the state Utilities Commission. He says an 80-megawatt farm could power 20,000 homes, depending on wind capacity.

Jay Lucas: "When people ask us how many homes a power plant can provide electricity to, one thing is that capacity factor we call. For instance, a nuclear plant will have a capacity factor of around 90 percent. But since, of course, the wind doesn't blow all the time, we figure 35 percent for this particular wind farm."
Lucas says the local government still has to approve the proposal before it heads to federal regulators for review. The farm would start producing energy at the end of next year.

Will Michaels is WUNC's Weekend Host and Reporter.
Related Stories
More Stories