Wind Energy

After five years, Atlantic City wind turbines are still a tourist draw

Five years after they were installed, the five wind turbines of the Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm have become a continuing source of interest to Atlantic City visitors, according to a recent article at Philly.com, the website of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

A few highlights of the article:

– Hotel operators in the resort city report that some guests ask for rooms with a view of the wind turbines, which generate electricity for a major wastewater treatment plant.

– The Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA), which owns the treatment plant and the wind farm, offers regular tours at noon Friday and Monday during the summer months. Some 15,000 people have visited the wind farm since its installation.

– The wind farm and a solar power array at the site generate 60 percent of the electricity used by the treatment plant, saving the equivalent of 24,000 barrels of oil a year. In five years, the turbines have saved ACUA $2.5 million in electricity costs.

By Tom Gray, www.awea.org/blog/