The Bear Creek Wind Power Project is a

wind farm A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...

located in Bear Creek Township near

Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre ( , alternatively or ) is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. ...

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Luzerne County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeaste ...

, USA, with twelve Gamesa 2.0 MW wind turbines that began commercial operation in March 2006. The wind farm has a combined total

nameplate capacity Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, maximum effect or gross capacity, Bear Creek usually operates at roughly a 30%

capacity factor The net capacity factor is the unitless ratio of actual electrical energy output over a given period of time to the theoretical maximum electrical energy output over that period. The theoretical maximum energy output of a given installation is def ...

until the winter months when winds are stronger and it runs near 70 percent capacity. The wind energy facility is located in the Poconos region of

Northeastern Pennsylvania Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA or Nepa) is a region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the Pocono Mountains, the Endless Mountains, and the industrial cities of Scranton (the area's largest city), Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Ha ...

, less than 10 miles southeast of Wilkes-Barre near the village of Bear Creek. Construction of the wind farm was made possible by commitments from PPL Energy Plus to purchase the output of the project and leading wind energy customers such as the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

and PEPCO Energy Services. The wind farm is visible while heading south on the

Pennsylvania Turnpike The Pennsylvania Turnpike, sometimes shortened to Penna Turnpike or PA Turnpike, is a controlled-access toll road which is operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) in Pennsylvania. It runs for across the southern part of the st ...

's Northeast Extension. Bear Creek Wind Power Project from Kingston PA 1394260849 6dcb76bb71 o

References

{{Wind power in the United States Energy infrastructure completed in 2006 Wind farms in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

See also

References