By David Wichner | Arizona Daily Star
A Boston-based developer is exploring the potential for what would be Arizona’s biggest wind farm on an expanse of high desert in Pinal County north of Oracle, about 30 miles north of Tucson.
But the company’s plan to erect up to 83 wind turbines at the site known as Oak Wells has already drawn opposition from local ranchers who say the wind farm would harm rangeland as well as the environment and native wildlife.
Oak Wells Wind LLC, an Arizona company set up by Boston-based Galehead Development, has been testing the winds with a test station set up in the area since last fall, has conducted initial studies on local bird populations and met with state and federal wildlife officials.
Galehead has partnered with Steelhead Americas, the North American development arm of Danish wind-turbine maker Vestas, to study the wind resource in a roughly 44,000-acre “area of interest.”
