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Atlantic County Utilities Authority Hosts Wind Farm Tours to Celebrate U.S. Leadership in Wind Power

Aug 03, 2018

Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA) will hold wind farm tours for the public at its Atlantic City facility on Monday, August 6, and Friday, August 10, at 12 noon as part of a national celebration of U.S. leadership in wind power and the benefits it creates for all Americans. ACUA’s wind farm tours are one of nearly 30 events happening in over 15 states from August 5-11 in recognition of the second annual American Wind Week.  

ACUA welcomes the public for tours of the wind farm and wastewater treatment facility and offers “Open House” tours in July and August. Curious residents and summer visitors can learn about the wind turbines and how ACUA uses wind and solar to clean wastewater at its Atlantic City Facility. Tours are offered on Monday and Friday at 12 noon through the end of August. Preregistration for these tours is not necessary, and more information is available online at: acua.com/summertours or by calling 609-272-6950. The wind farm is located at 1801 Absecon Blvd. (Route 30) in Atlantic City.

“The Jersey Atlantic Wind Farm helps to power our energy intensive wastewater treatment facility with clean renewable energy and has saved the ACUA over $5.6 million since coming online in 2006,” said ACUA President Rick Dovey. “New Jersey has great potential to harness additional wind power. These five 1.5 megawatt turbines here at the ACUA alone can produce enough power for approximately 2,500 homes. The environmental benefits of wind energy are equally important to us; using wind energy reduces carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide emissions.” 

“Leeward Renewable Energy is happy to be celebrating American Wind Week at our Jersey Atlantic Wind farm with ACUA, the innovative customer who made this project a success since 2005. They help the Jersey Atlantic Wind farm deliver unique wind energy benefits to the community – creating American jobs, harnessing a strong domestic resource, and reducing emissions,” said Greg Wolf, CEO of Leeward Renewable Energy.

“This American Wind Week, we salute the more than 105,000 U.S. workers who make it possible to transform the power of wind into affordable electricity that our families and businesses rely on,” said Tom Kiernan, CEO of AWEA. “We’re building more U.S. wind power today than ever before. This is what leadership looks like – growing economic opportunity, homegrown energy, and cleaner air from sea to shining sea.”  

Supporters of wind energy across the U.S. launched American Wind Week last year when wind power became the country’s largest source of renewable energy capacity. Today, that leadership is growing with a record amount of wind power under construction at wind farms across America. The U.S. possesses world-class wind resources, with some parts of the heartland and coasts known as the “Saudi Arabia of wind”, and U.S. wind farms are the most productive among countries with the highest levels of installed wind power, like China and Germany.  

Across the nation a record 105,000 Americans work in wind power, affordably and reliably supplying over six percent of U.S. electricity and creating clean air benefits worth more than $8 billion each year. Wind turbine technicians and solar installers are the nation’s two fastest growing jobs according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  

Visit AmericanWindWeek.org to learn more about wind power and to see a full map of the week’s events ranging from a community barbeque in New Mexico to a wind farm tour in North Dakota. If you can’t make it to a Wind Week event in your state, you can still participate by sharing why you’re proud of American leadership in wind power with #americanwindweek on social media.  

For a library of up-to-date images of wind energy, please use this link.  

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About the American Wind Energy Association:  

AWEA is the national trade association of the U.S. wind energy industry. We represent 1,000 member companies and over 100,000 jobs in the U.S. economy, serving as a powerful voice for how wind works for America. Members include global leaders in wind power and energy development, turbine manufacturing, and component and service suppliers. They gather each year at the Western Hemisphere’s largest wind power trade show, the AWEA WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition, next in Houston, May 20-23, 2019. Find information about wind energy on the AWEA website. Gain insight into industry issues on AWEA's blog, Into the Wind. And please join us on Facebook, and follow @AWEA on Twitter.

About the Atlantic County Utilities Authority:  

The Atlantic County Utilities Authority is charged with providing responsible waste management services to protect local waters and lands from pollution. ACUA has gone beyond its mandate with renewable energy and alternative fuel projects. The ACUA’s Wastewater Division in Atlantic City serves 14 municipalities with a 40 million gallon per day treatment facility, 20 pumping stations, and over 60 miles of interceptor sewers and force mains. The wastewater treatment facility in Atlantic City is home to the 7.5-MW Jersey Atlantic Wind Farm, a 500-kW solar project, 1 MW battery storage project, electrical vehicle charging stations and a green roof. The ACUA’s Solid Waste facilities in Egg Harbor Township include a landfill, compost site, transfer station, maintenance center, geothermal administration building, recycling center, a 5.4-MW landfill gas-to-electricity project, a compressed natural gas (CNG) station, a biodiesel fueling station, electric vehicle charging stations and a green vehicle wash. Find information on ACUA’s website, join us on Facebook, and follow @ACUA_Green on Twitter.