Bakke Mountain Wind Farm
| Hoosac Wind Power Project | |
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 Location of Hoosac Wind Power Project
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| Country | United States |
| Location | Berkshire County, Massachusetts |
| Coordinates | 42°43′47″N 73°1′25″W / 42.72972°N 73.02361°WCoordinates: 42°43′47″N 73°1′25″W / 42.72972°N 73.02361°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | August, 2011 |
| Commission date | December, 2012 |
| Construction cost | US$90 million |
| Owner(s) | Iberdola Renewables |
| Wind farm | |
| Type | Onshore |
| Avg. site elevation | 2,700 feet (820 m) |
| Site area | 75 acres |
| Hub height | 213 feet (65 m) |
| Rotor diameter | 252 feet (77 m) |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 19 |
| Make and model | GE Wind Energy: 1.5 MW |
| Nameplate capacity | 28.5 MW |
| Annual output | 7,000 MWh |
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Website http://iberdrolarenewables.us/cs_hoosac.html |
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Hoosac Wind Power Project is a wind farm on Crum Hill in Monroe, Massachusetts and on Bakke Mountain in Florida, Massachusetts. Owned and operated by Iberdrola Renewables, it is the largest wind farm in Massachusetts, with 19 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines and a total installed capacity of 28.5 MW. The Hoosac Wind power project became fully operational in 2012, and provides enough electricity to power 10,000 homes annually.
In 1980, during a Bakke Mountain hike, the Bakke family noticed the region was quite breezy. The sparse tree growth was misshapen and deformed by the strong winds. Hans Bakke began to consider the possibility of wind energy at the site. EnXco, the wind-energy company and partner of the French energy conglomerate Électricité de France, approached the Bakke family to propose building a wind farm, together they created Hoosac Wind LLC. In November 2004, the State of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection approved the proposed project. However, thorny issues plague the project including the presence of potentially vulnerable species of goldenrod in the vicinity of the proposed site, as well as the asserted danger to the migratory paths of birds and bats. Hoosac Wind achieved tentative approval from both Florida and Monroe after taking considerable amounts of wind-speed and direction data, along with avian, archeological, geological, and wildlife studies which were conducted as well. In January 2006, Hoosac Wind LLC was purchased by the British company PPM Energy for an estimated US$40 million, PPM was subsequently absorbed by Iberdrola Renewables. Hoosac Wind LLC was renamed New England Wind LLC. Green Berkshires, an environmental organization opposed to wind energy projects in the Berkshire mountain range, had filed an appeal rejected by the State of Massachusetts Division of Administrative Law Appeals. As of May, 2008, the project was still under review post environmental standards challenges. The project began construction in early 2012 and was completed in December 2012.
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