The first commercial wind farm in New York, Madison was dedicated in 2000. Horizon bought the 11 MW project from PG&E Corporation in 2005 to complement the Horizon ownership portfolio. In addition to generating clean electricity, the Madison Wind Farm was key in generating interest in wind energy throughout the Northeast. Madison Wind Farm landowner, Carl Stone, sees the turbines as symbols of appreciation for the environment and the local agricultural tradition.

Located on 120 acres Madison County, New York, the Madison Wind Farm sits on top of a ridge used as cropland. As the first wind farm in New York, Madison Wind Farm was, and continues to be an exciting project. Then-U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson attended the grand opening--and later gave the golden shovel for the event to two of the landowners. Landowner Carl Stone remarked, "The turbines help us keep up with property taxes and health insurance. They are like big cows that generate reliable revenue, but don't need to be fed or milked."

Project Fact and Figures:

Location: Madison County

Acreage:  120 acres

Construction Completion Date: October, 2000

Project Size:  11 megawatts.

Turbines:  7 Vestas V66 wind turbine generators, with a rated capacity of 1.65 megawatts each

Celebrating the Wind

Carl Stone, along with his wife Bonnie, owns land on which 5 of the 7 Vestas V66 turbines are located for the Madison Wind Farm in Madison, New York. He offers the following poem about Maple Ridge in praise of wind power.


Winds of Change

The farmlands of our New York State
Are takin' on a change.
It all has happened just of late,
And to most it still looks strange.

There is a brand new crop here now,
Like none we've ever seen.
It isn't some new breed of cow,
And it has no leaves of green.

The crop that I now speak about
Has been with us all along.
It's one we've never been without,
It's presence always strong.

For years I've always fought it,
Rarely considered it a friend.
Until this fella, he just bought it,
Yup, this guy, he bought my wind!

So now up from the fields of corn,
Majestic towers rise,
And mammoth rotors gently turn
Against the bright blue skies.

I think we will see many more
Before we all are through,
But one thing that I know for sure,
It's the right thing for us to do.

It surely beats a plume of smoke
Polluting all our air.
They stand as symbols to all folk
To show that we must care.

For years we all learned to take
From this world placed in our hands,
But now for all our children's sake,
We must make some long-term plans.

So where will they finish with this thing?
I s'pose I'll never know.
I just hope that guy drops by 'fore spring.
Maybe I can sell some snow!