By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
tribune staff writer

KEYSER — The developers of a proposed wind farm on Green Mountain will conduct their first public meeting of 2009 tonight at the Wind Lea Banquet and Conference Center.
The public meeting of the US WindForce Pinnacle Wind Farm Advisory Panel is set to start at 6 p.m.
The meeting, which continues the monthly updates held since last spring, will focus on setting the agenda for future advisory meetings through the coming year.
The Pinnacle Wind Farm being proposed by US WindForce involves 23 wind turbines to be erected along the crest of Green Mountain, from the Pinnacle radio tower site, northward to where the mountain drops down to the Potomac River near
Keyser. Towering 40 stories, the turbines will significantly alter the skyline west of town.
Once completed, the wind farm will have a maximum generating power of about 72 megawatts, supplying electricity roughly equivalent to the annual power needs of about 21,000 homes.
The project is expected to create 200 construction jobs and six permanent turbine-maintenance positions. Company officials have said the wind farm will generate about $300,000 annually in property tax revenue. WindForce also plans to establish a community benefit fund to be seeded with an initial contribution of $50,000 and annual infusions of $20,000 for the life of the project.
Company officials had planned to submit the application for the project  to the West Virginia Public Service Commission by early December, but announced last month that the application now will not be filed until February. Speaking to the complexity of the application process and the year’s-long study that has gone into the project, the application is expected to be composed of three 6-inch-thick binders.
For more information on the Pinnacle Wind Farm project, visit www.uswindforce.com.