SUNSET PARK — A towering windmill is carrying Brooklyn into a greener way of life.
The nearly 160-foot-tall wind turbine on the 30th Street pier in Sunset Park helps generate power for a waterfront recycling facility that processes New York’s curbside metal, glass and plastic recyclables.
Officials will host a dedication ceremony for the huge power generator Wednesday morning at the Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility, located at 471 Second Ave.
The $750,000 windmill was installed in the fall of 2014 and manufactured by Northern Power Systems.
With a capacity of 100 kilowatts, the powerful turbine is expected to provide up to 4 percent of the energy required to run the 11-acre recycling facility, which processes more than 15,000 tons of scrap a month through a long–term contract with the city’s Department of Sanitation, according to a statement from Sims Metal Management.
The Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility, which opened in 2013, is operated by a division of Sims.
Depending on wind and electricity costs, the turbine should pay for itself in about five years.
“As a recycling company, sustainability is central to our mission, and in Brooklyn, we saw the opportunity to advance that agenda in new ways,” Tom Outerbridge, general manager of Sims Municipal Recycling, said in a statement.
“The wind turbine, combined with the solar array, enables the facility to decrease its non-renewable energy consumption substantially.”
