The proposed wind farm in Crab Orchard has drawn fire lately from locals and public officials.  There are two separate open house events scheduled for today and Thursday to help answer resident’s questions.

In January of this year,  officials announced  that Apex Clean Energy, an independent renewable energy company based in Charlottesville, Virginia, is planning to locate a new wind farm on private land in the county, ten miles east of Crossville.

  Several have expressed concerns about the project as it relates to the windmills being unsightly and visible for miles, noise pollution and whether it truly will benefit Cumberland County at all.  Senator Lamar Alexander has urged residents to oppose the construction of the wind farm.  Today, (June 1st) and tomorrow (June 2nd) the Crab Orchard Wind team will host open houses for residents to come ask any questions they may have.  There will be morning and afternoon sessions scheduled.

There will be visual simulations of the project from various vantage points throughout Crab Orchard, Fairfield Glade and other parts of Cumberland County. In addition, Apex representatives will be on hand to provide answers to questions regarding sound and other items raised at previous sessions.

The public meetings will be conducted in an open house format. Instead of formal presentations, Apex team members will be scattered throughout the room to answer questions in a more personal setting.

Apex Clean Energy officials said that they will be holding Open House events at the Fairfield Glade Community Club Center on June 1st from 5:30 to 8 P.M., and again on June 2 from 8 A.M. to 12 P.M.  There will also be an open house at Crab Orchard Town Hall on both days. The times for those meetings were not announced.

The project boundary will encompass around 1,800 acres, with roughly 50 acres to be taken up by the project itself. When built, the Cumberland County project will have a capacity of up to 71 MW, enough power for about 20,000 homes every year. The project will employ 57 during the construction and 7 once it is constructed