DEP ENERGY HARVEST GRANT TO BRING NEW ENERGY SOURCE
TO PRESQUE ISLE STATE PARK

Presque Isle State Park, Erie County: Environmental Protection Northwest Regional Director, Kelly Burch today joined Presque Isle Partnership and Presque Isle State Park representatives at the site where a new wind turbine will be installed to provide electrical energy for use at the park.

"This project received a grant through Pennsylvania Energy Harvest which is creating excitement about Pennsylvania as a cutting-edge place to do business while making the State a leader in advanced energy technology," Burch said. "There is a lot at stake here - improved air quality, watershed protection, job generation, land preservation, and enhanced energy security. The wind turbine project at Presque Isle State Park is an investment in Pennsylvania's future as a leading producer of clean and renewable energy."

Presque Isle Partnership Executive Director, Steve McDermott, says his group received a $42,106 Energy Harvest grant from DEP in February to help finance the wind energy project, which will receive consulting services from North Coast Energy Systems. DEP awarded 32 Energy Harvest grants worth $5 million.

"We are always looking for ways to make the Park's operation more sustainable and environmentally friendly," McDermott said. "The energy that the wind turbine will produce will provide power to the Stull Interpretive Center, and the excess energy will be fed to the grid. This clean energy option will allow the park to use the money it normally spends on electricity for other needs."

The Presque Isle Wind Energy Project involves construction of a Bergey Excel S 10 kilowatt wind turbine on a 120-foot tower at Barracks Beach across from the Stull Interpretive Center. The turbine is expected to generate over 17,000 kilowatt hours per year. Presque Isle State Park Superintendent, Harry Leslie, of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, says this will replace a nonfunctioning turbine and tower that exists at that location.

"Every year, Presque Isle Sate Park draws 4 million people from all across Pennsylvania and around the world," Leslie said. "Once this project is completed, visitors will find a new attraction at the Park that goes hand-in-hand with clean air and clean water. We hope visitors leave the Park with a new understanding of the importance of clean energy sources to our environmental and economic future and that the experience will encourage interest in alternative energy projects throughout Erie County, as well as across the Commonwealth."

Governor Edward G. Rendell has a plan to make Pennsylvania a leader in building and deploying advanced energy technology by attracting new investment. His budget will expand Pennsylvania Energy Harvest by $80 million over 4 years to provide the financial tools to encourage clean and renewable energy projects from advanced energy sources such as biomass, wind, solar, small-scale hydroelectric, landfill methane, coal-bed methane, and waste-coal.

With just $5 million in its first year (last year), Pennsylvania Energy Harvest received 139 applications with requests for $45 million in funding that would generate $96 million in private investment.

For more information on Energy Harvest and other energy-related topics, visit the DEP web site at www.dep.state.pa.us.