Nearly 6 years after announcing efforts to build a 50,000-acre wind farm in central Michigan, Apex Clean Energy, a renewable energy firm with nearly half a dozen projects in Oklahoma, is giving up.
The Virginia company said it was no longer pursuing approval and support for what was labeled the Montcalm Wind Project. While Apex blamed a lack of securing enough local landowner participation, it also faced criticism and opposition in the nearby community, much like the opposition seen in some Oklahoma counties.
Apex had called Montcalm Wind “an opportunity to help address Michigan’s growing electricity demand with clean, homegrown energy, while supporting local farmers, diversifying the Montcalm County economy, and creating new jobs in the community.”
But it didn’t work that way. Not like it did in Oklahoma over the past several years where Apex Clean Energy was successful in building and operating several wind farms. That is, until a few years ago.
It built and later sold the 300 MW Balko Wind project in Beaver County. The Kay Wind farm in Kay County was also constructed by Apex Clean Energy which sold it but still operates the project. The company’s proposed 600 MW Hickory Wind project in Nowata County is not yet operational. But it still manages and operates the southern Oklahoma Diamond Spring wind farm in Johnston, Pontotoc and Murray counties as well as the 300 MW Caddo Wind project in Caddo County.
Apex ran into a fight in Lincoln County when it proposed the Sandstone Hills Wind project, making the same kind of assurances it made in Michigan.
“The Sandstone Hills Wind project provides an opportunity to help address Oklahoma’s growing electricity demand with clean, homegrown energy, while diversifying Lincoln County’s economy and supporting jobs in the local community.” The company said the project would create jobs and generate “an entirely new source of long-term revenue for local governments, businesses, and landowners.”
But landowners formed a group called “Wind Warriors in Lincoln County” and their efforts are still underway. As reported by Nowata Today, in an article headlined “Oklahoma Residents Fight Back Against Wind Turbine Expansion, the wind projects in Lincoln, Craig and Nowata counties would cover tens of thousands of acres.
- Apex Clean Energy’s Sandstone Project and Enel Green Power’s Cedar Run Wind Farm are eyed for construction in 2028 and are already in pre-construction, respectively.
- Triple Oak Power’s Cabin Creek project in Craig County has FAA approvals and is awaiting road agreements.
- Apex’s Hickory Creek project in Nowata County is one of dozens of wind developments by foreign-dominated companies in eastern Oklahoma.
“Grassroots groups like Save Oklahoma Farms and Ranches are fighting projects by companies like Apex Clean Energy and Enel Green Power, arguing the massive turbines are an unwelcome intrusion on their way of life,” reported Nowata Today.