FERRISBURGH — The Nea-Tocht Farm in Ferrisburgh hopes to save $2,200 a year on electricity thanks to a wind turbine installed on the Botsford Road spread just west of Vergennes last month by Green Mountain Power.
“Generating local power fits perfectly into our farm’s mission of growing local food,” said Raymond VanderWey, who owns Nea-Tocht farm, along with his wife, Linda, and sons Howard and Sidney. “We are so pleased to partner with GMP to install this turbine that is not only a beautiful addition to our farm, but will help our bottom line.”
GMP installed the Vermont-built Northern Power Systems 100-kilowatt wind turbine as part of its commitment to generating more local, small-scale renewable energy in Vermont. The company described it as its third “community scale” wind turbine. The first was installed at the Northlands Job Corps in Vergennes in 2011. The second was installed at the Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport in 2013, which is also the first farm in Vermont to put power from cow manure on the grid.
 “It is so exciting to be installing a renewable energy project that is also benefitting a farm family,“ said Mary Powell, Green Mountain Power president and CEO. “Providing small-scale clean energy throughout our service territory helps to improve reliability and is part of our mission to provide renewable, reliable and low-cost energy for our customers.”
The tower of the NPS100 wind turbine installed at Nea-Tocht farm is 121 feet tall. Each blade is 39 feet long. It can produce about 155,000 kWh per year — equal to the amount of electricity used by 25 homes. It has a projected 20-year life span. The manufacturer is Northern Power Systems, a Vermont company with a factory in Barre. Aegis Wind, a general contractor based in Waitsfield, installed the turbine. Groundbreaking was Feb. 3 and the project took about a month to complete.
As part of the partnership with Green Mountain Power, Nea-Tocht Farm, which milks 250 dairy cows, will receive a portion of the power produced through net metering. Green Mountain Power will own, operate, and maintain the turbine.
“The name of our farm, Nea-Tocht, is Dutch for ‘never thought’ and it’s fitting today because we never thought we’d be milking our cows with renewable energy, but we sure are glad to be,” VanderWey said.