Sep 3 - McClatchy-Tribune Business News Formerly Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Steve Virkler Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.

All of Maple Ridge Wind Farm's 195 towers -- minus one top section -- should be up this week and fully operational by November.

"Things are coming to a close rather quickly here," said Scott R. Alexander, operation manager at the wind farm.

While the initial plan was to finish tower installation Saturday, several factors have pushed the completion date past Labor Day, Mr. Alexander said.

They include an accident involving one of the tower pieces.

A truck delivering a tower top from Louisiana several weeks ago flipped over on a highway in Kentucky or Tennessee, injuring the driver and damaging the massive part, Mr. Alexander said. "It rolled twice," he said of the tower section.

The towers, which are shipped in three sections, are 262.5 feet high, and the tips of the turbine blades reach up to 397 feet off the ground.

Because of the accident, a tower top must now be remanufactured and likely won't be available until some time in October, Mr. Alexander said.

"When that top comes in, there will be a flurry of activity," he said.

Many of the turbine parts -- including the 130-foot blades -- have been manufactured overseas and must first be transported by ship to the Port of Oswego before being trucked here to the project site.

Turbine construction was also expected to be delayed this weekend by the weather, namely rainfall and heavy winds stemming from Tropical Depression Ernesto.

Flat Rock Wind Power -- a joint venture of Horizon Wind Energy of Houston, Texas, and PPM Energy of Portland, Ore. -- last year began a $380 million, 195-turbine wind farm project in the towns of Lowville, Martinsburg and Harrisburg.

When completed, the project is to provide around $11 million annually to local taxing jurisdictions and landowners.

Crews in late June activated 20 new turbines, adding to the 120 that were put up last year.

Installation of a second substation is slated to begin this week, Mr. Alexander said.

"We're hoping to get things energized by the first of October," he said, noting it will then take several weeks to commission the remaining 55 turbines.

That tentative timetable should allow for "full commercial operations" to begin by, Mr. Alexander said.

"We're really pleased with where we're at," he said.

A Sept. 26 ribbon-cutting ceremony is also being planned at the wind farm, Mr. Alexander said. More details on the event will be available in the near future, he said.

"The event planners are doing their thing," Mr. Alexander said.