By Liz Hoffman
Workers install a 170-foot
pole with a wind-measuring device at Hingham's former landfill.
The pole will stay up for about a year to collect data about
wind speeds that will determine whether the landfill is a feasible
spot for an energy-producing wind turbine.
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When Hull Wind I started spinning
in December 2001, the 165-foot wind turbine was a bold addition
to the landscape.
But more striking was the effect
on the town's image: Hull became a visionary, a model of what
a commitment to cleaner, cheaper energy looks like.
Richard Miller, the town's operations
manager, says he gets four or five calls a week from towns all
over the country. "They all want to know how we did it,"
he said.
Some of those questions are coming
from Hull's neighbors on the other South Shore, where slowly
but surely, a mix of public and private interest is driving investment
in wind power.
Since 2004, dozens of communities
across the state have dangled a toe in the wind energy water.
At last count, there were 25 proposed turbines in 13 towns on
the South Shore. Plymouth leads the way, with two town initiatives,
one county proposal and four from private companies.
"(Turbines) aren't springing
up overnight, but they're coming," said Kingston Selectman
Mark Beaton, who sits on the town's Green Energy Committee. "A
small revolution is swelling up."
Projects in Quincy, Cohasset,
Marshfield, Scituate, and Hanover are likely a year or less away
from reality, say their developers. At least three other towns
have axed their plans, citing a lack of funding, a lack of political
will, or in the case of a proposed turbine at Whitman-Hanson
High School, a lack of wind.
Most plans are somewhere in the
middle of the bureaucratic timeline of site survey, wind testing,
public forums, city council approval, zoning board permits, and
negotiations with design and construction firms.
Better wind technology, soaring
energy prices, growing environmental concerns, and a new state
law are sparking renewed interest in the ultimate in clean-green
power.
Electricity prices have doubled
in the past decade. At the same time, the power-generating ability
of turbines has increased.
"Municipalities are realizing
that we've got to change our act, and that there are better and
better ways of powering our towns," Beaton said.
Gov. Deval Patrick signed the
Green Communities Act into law on July 2. It allows owners of
wind turbines to sell their surplus electricity back to the power
grid.
Towns can also receive credits
that they can use to power municipal buildings such as schools,
fire and police stations, and town halls. "Investing in
wind power is suddenly much more attractive," said Andrew
Brydges, a consultant with KEMA Inc., which has worked on the
Kingston turbine plan.
But even with the legislative
push, progress is slow. At least a year's worth of wind speed
data is needed to justify building a turbine. Grant money is
available from the state, but town and city officials have to
approve the application. Deciding who pays up front for the turbines
– which run between $1 and $4 million, depending on size
and capacity – who owns and operates them, and who gets
the surplus power can be tricky. And most zoning bylaws, decades
old, do not clearly spell out how to handle emerging wind technology.
"There's a lot legwork and
a lot of paperwork involved," Beaton said. "It's definitely
a process.
And then there's the job of actually
getting the turbine, most of which are built overseas. Several
towns reported wait times of eight months to two years.
"It's to the point where
just getting on a waiting list is tough," said John Birtwell,
public information director for Plymouth County Sheriff's office,
which has plans to build a turbine at the county jail.
But even with the bureaucratic
bottleneck and backordered turbines, there's a stiff wind, and
it's only blowing in one direction.
"We're only going to see
more and more of these projects," said James Sweeney, whose
Plymouth-based energy company, CCI Energy, has contracts to build
turbines in Cohasset and Marshfield. "That's where the legislation
is going and that's where the interest is."
HOW IT WORKS
The wind turns the blades of
the turbine around a rotor. The rotor is attached to a shaft
which spins a generator. Inside the generator, coils of copper
wire spin inside magnets. The magnetic force pushes electrons
out of their shells in the copper wire, resulting in a flow of
electrons. Moving electrons are called electricity.
WIND POWER ON THE SOUTH SHORE
There are currently only two
working wind turbines on the South Shore, plus one in Dorchester
and another at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. But there are
more than a dozen proposals in various stages of development.
From the four offshore turbines being proposed in Hull to seven
different proposed turbines in Plymouth, wind energy is the hot
topic among town planners.
THE MONEY TRAIL
The Massachusetts Technology
Collaborative is backing wind energy projects across the state.
On the South Shore alone, the collaborative has doled out almost
$3.7 million in 20 grants. The money comes from a surcharge on
retail energy – about a penny for every 20 kilowatt-hours.
A sampling of the local projects:
The Bank of Canton received $40,000
to put up a 160-foot tower to test wind speeds at its Turnpike
Street branch.
Hull got $1.7 million for its
proposal to build four turbines on a shoal about 1.5 miles off
Nantasket Beach. The turbines would have about five times the
combined capacity of Hull Wind I and II.
In Quincy, the Massachusetts
Water Resources Authority received $26,000 for a feasibility
study, then $500,000 to go toward design and construction of
a 328-foot wind turbine on Nut Island.
Hanover got $250,000 for a turbine
at its Pond Street wastewater treatment plant.
DEAD WINDS
A few local wind turbine projects
have been stalled or abandoned completely, either for lack of
funding, lack of political will or lack of wind.
The Whitman-Hanson school district
axed plans for a 160-foot turbine when a test tower showed there
isn't enough wind to power it, Superintendent John McEwan said.
State plans for a turbine in
the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton stalled out a year ago,
said Steven Clark, a spokesman for the office of Energy and Environmental
Affairs.
A request from the Weymouth town
council to explore wind speeds at the South Weymouth Naval Air
Base was shot down by the base developer, which is planning a
massive residential and commercial complex.
The Patriot Ledger
