New wind power project goes online in southern Vermont

SEARSBURG, Vt. – The country’s first wind farm in a National Forest is now making power in southern Vermont.

The 30-megawatt, 15-turbine Deerfield Wind Farm on Green Mountain National Forest land in the towns of Searsburg and Readsboro went online Friday.

The developer of the project, Avangrid Renewables, says it’s the first wind farm on U.S. Forest Service land in the country.

Avangrid says the energy produced by the turbines will be enough to power roughly 14,000 average Vermont homes a year. The power will be sold to Green Mountain Power.

Readsboro select board chair Helyn Strom-Henriksen says the community is looking forward to “the positive impacts this project will have on the area.”

But Annette Smith, a frequent critic of industrial wind projects, says Deerfield Wind will hurt wildlife and degrades the wilderness.