Boston Globe Article

Catching Knots for Wind
As energy costs rise, more towns along the coast look at wind power
The Boston Globe  |  May 18, 2006
Carolyn Y. Johnson

Squeezed by rising energy costs and inspired by Hull's two wind turbines, communities south of Boston are looking to the wind to power their schools, municipal buildings, and waste-water treatment plants.

At least half a dozen area towns—eager to take advantage of the 15 mile-per-hour winds that routinely sweep the coastline—are, after years of discussion, finally making tangible progress following in Hull's footsteps. They are constructing towers to measure wind, taking votes at Town Meeting to encourage wind energy, and talking to developers about the costs and benefits of the technology at a time of rising gas and electric prices. Several are being helped by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, which supports community wind projects.

''I think a lot of people have seen what Hull has done and they see [wind power] in the news, and they say every time I go down to the high school my hat gets blown off," said Brian Kuhn, chairman of the Plymouth Energy Committee.

Public awareness of the technology is at a high point. Not only has Hull's second turbine just come online (joining one that has been spinning on the tip of Hull's peninsula since 2001), but the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 103 windmill along the Southeast Expressway looms in commuters' peripheral vision. So, too, does the Massachusetts Maritime Academy windmill in Bourne. Add to that the ongoing debate over the 130-turbine Cape Wind project.

Several area towns are testing wind flow—the first step in turbine construction process—to decide whether the investment, $2.5 million to $3 million for a 1.5-megawatt windmill, makes sense.

The city of Quincy expects to install wind-monitoring equipment at the police station on Sea Street and at Quarry Hills by the end of the month. Kingston has been monitoring wind direction and speed at its waste-water treatment plant for nine months. The Renewable Energy Committee in Scituate recently received a building permit to install a wind-monitoring tower at its sewage-treatment plant.

At Plymouth's special Town Meeting this Saturday, voters will decide whether to authorize the town to lease land near the waste-water treatment plant, where the Plymouth Energy Committee sees potential for four 2-megawatt turbines. Last week, Wareham voters passed a bylaw to allow windmills to be constructed. Jim Collins, superintendent of the Wareham school district, said the School Committee is working to draft a request for proposals for wind energy at the high school and middle school.

Marshfield's Department of Public Works is beginning to study the feasibility and economics of a windmill at its sewage-treatment plant. Mattapoisett set up a monitoring tower in January.

The Southeastern Massachusetts project closest to completion, according to Warren Leon, director of Mass. Tech Collaborative's Renewable Energy Trust, is a plan for two 1.65-megawatt turbines in Orleans, which could be up by fall.

Interest in wind power comes at a crucial time. Independent System Operator of New England, a nonprofit organization that manages the region's power grid, recently warned that overreliance on natural gas will keep energy prices high, and encouraged the state to diversify its power sources.

Hull seems determined to stay at the front of the pack and is working on a proposal for four additional off-shore windmills. Because that town owns its power grid, the process of building windmills has been easier. Hull's light department was able to buy the turbines and connect them directly to the town's grid, with clear benefits to residents.

Hull's 660-kilowatt turbine, or ''the little guy," was installed in 2001 and has produced over 6 million kilowattt-hours of energy, saving the town an average of $185,000 a year, according to John MacLeod, operations manager of the town's light department. The new 1.8-megawatt machine, installed at the town's landfill this spring, is projected to save half a million dollars each year.

For towns that do not own their power grid, turbines would probably be built by private developers, who would lease the land from the town and sell the electricity back to the town at a negotiated rate, according to Leon. The formula that each town works out would be complex, taking into account that in most cases, it is currently cheaper to buy fossil-fuel-powered energy than to produce wind energy.

''The cost of electricity jumped from 50 to 100 percent in certain areas. That's just an indication of what the future holds for all of us," Collins said. Wind energy ''guarantees a fixed cost on electricity for the next 20 years," he said.

Some say Hull's turbines are a visible demonstration that wind energy can be majestic, profitable, and—if it is possible for a 330-foot-high windmill to be unobtrusive—almost a part of the scenery. But when turbine proposals reach the stage when it actually comes time to build one near a neighborhood, the Hull example may scare residents.

''What has created quite a lot of angst is the second one in Hull," said John Tzimorangas, general manager of the town's light plant, who said interest has been revived in alternative energy recently. ''Hull Two is a very good-looking turbine for what you want it to do, but when the project was approved, folks around Hingham Harbor were not pleased, because it does impede the view across the harbor. My guess is [that windmill] will make it a hair harder" to get support for a similar project in Hingham.

But many say that wind's time has finally come. Like cellphone towers and big water towers, the rotating blades may soon fold into the landscape. And as the region faces a projected energy crunch, and global warming—fueled in large part by fossil-fuel combustion—continues, they are a small part of the solution.

Ron Maribett, chairman of the Secure Energy Future Committee in Kingston, said the decision to examine wind was common sense. We were ''looking at where things were going, looking at budgets and watching them climb, and watching the world [energy] situation, and saying this is not going to get better."