LOCATION: Lackawanna, New York

REDEVELOPED USE: A 20-megawatt wind farm with eight turbines generating enough electric power for 9,000 residents. The wind turbines deliver power to the area power grid through electrical infrastructure that remained from the previous uses.

SITE BACKGROUND: The site once housed one of the largest steel mills in the world. It ceased operations in the early 1980s and has been largely idle since. The actual ground that the turbines sit on is steel slag a byproduct of the steel making operations that was dumped into Lake Erie to form the large tract of reclaimed land upon which the turbines were constructed.

SIZE: The wind turbines occupy an area of approximately 30 acres on a site that encompasses over 1,000 acres.

PARTNERS: Apex Wind, Axio Power, First Wind, BQ Energy, City of Lackawanna, Erie County (NY), New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), NYS Department of Environmental Quality, Phillips Lytle, Ecology & Environment, Benchmark Engineering, Clipper Windpower, Tennessee Valley Infrastructure Group

COST: $35 million

RECOGNITION: Steel Winds has received recognition as a landmark project for brownfield redevelopment by the United Stated Environmental Protection Agency, the NYS Dept. of Environmental Quality and several other organizations. It has been featured in reports on the History Channel as well as the NBC Nightly News and other media. Steel Winds was awarded the prestigious Power Magazine Award for International Renewable Energy Project of the Year.