Wind power struggle crosses political boundaries

Vermont Business Magazine, Aug 01, 2004 by Kelley, Kevin

During a debate this spring in the Vermont House on the potential merits and demerits of wind energy, Representative Michael Obuchowski said this emerging controversy "tests our values" and touches upon Vermont's "heart and soul."

State residents familiar with the economic, environmental and aesthetic aspects of wind power might frame the issue in a similarly dramatic fashion.

Development of this form of renewable energy on a commercial scale entails a variety of concerns widely shared by Vermonters: preservation of the state's mountainous landscape; encouragement of green entrepreneurship; furtherance of Vermont's leadership in addressing national and global environmental problems. Seldom do these objectives come into conflict with one another. But that is what is happening in the case of largescale wind-power projects, and the competing interests are proving difficult to reconcile.

Citizen groups have sprung up in at least three parts of the state in opposition to proposed wind projects that, they claim, will blight local landscapes, result in little or no net reduction in air pollution, and do nothing to lower Vermonters' electricity bills.

Environmental organizations and private businesses favoring the projects say that opponents' objections are illinformed or extremist. These advocates of wind power argue that the projects will have a minuscule impact on Vermont's scenic splendor, will give substance to the state's rhetorical commitment to combating global warming, and will help make Vermont's power supply more secure and affordable.

Feeling political pressure from both sides, the administration of Governor James Douglas has adopted a cautious approach that pleases the opposition camp and distresses wind-power developers, including the state's two largest utilities. Douglas last month (July) appointed a seven-member commission to study the issue and to report its recommendations for state policy by mid-December.

Articulating his middle-of-the-road stance, Douglas declared, "We need to encourage conservation and the development of renewable energy sources. But this must be done within a reasonable regulatory framework that is consistent with our environmental and aesthetic ethics and protects our ridgelines from haphazard development."

At present, the wind-power debate is focused on three sites - two in southern Vermont and one in the Northeast Kingdom. Proposed projects are furthest advanced in these areas, but exploratory work is under way on three more ridgelines, and additional initiatives will likely take shape quickly if Douglas' study commission reports findings favorable to wind developers.

At Searsburg, Green Mountain Power has been operating Vermont's only functioning wind-energy unit for the past seven years. The 11 turbines whirring at this facility produce six megawatts of emission-free energy, enough to provide electricity to more than 2000 average Vermont homes.

Believing it has demonstrated the advantages of this project, Green Mountain Power has outlined plans to erect 22 more wind turbines at the Searsburg site.

Catamount Energy Corporation, a non-regulated subsidiary of Central Vermont. Public Service, meanwhile hopes to build 27 turbines on a ridgeline of Glebe Mountain in Londonderry. The 50-megawatt capacity of this project could meet the electricity needs of more than 18,000 Vermont households.

In the. Northeast Kingdom, windpower developers have asked the Public Service Board to approve a demonstration project involving four turbines on the summit ridge of East Mountain. This six-megawatt facility would be expanded to include 50 turbines in accordance with a long-term plan offered by East Haven Windfarm, the company sponsoring the project.

Initially, the site would supply about one-third of the electrical power used by the village of Lyndonville. Ultimately, according to developers, the project could meet half of the Northeast Kingdom's total demand for electricity.

Measurements of wind speeds arc being carried out at three other sites, including Little Equinox Mountain in Manchester, where Catamount Energy seeks to codevelop a five-turbine wind farm.

Central Vermont Public Service, Catamount's parent company, was once a global pioneer in efforts to harness the wind as an energy source. In the early 1940s, the Rutland-based utility built what was then the world's largest windpower facility atop Grandpa's Knob in Castleton. The small turbine supplied power to the local grid for a few months during World War II, but it was removed from service in 1945 after a rotor broke off.

UPC Wind Partners, of Lowell, MA, has erected an anemometer on Hardscrabble Mountain in Sheffield, and may install two more wind-measurements towers in the same area.

Up to 26 wind turbines could be built along ridges of the Lowell Mountain range by a partnership made up of the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority, Vermont Environmental Research Associates, and enXco Inc, a French firm.

Waterbury-based Vermont Ervironmental Research Associates has installed two wind-measurement towers on Lowell Mountain and is also working with Green Mountain Power on the proposed expansion of the Searsburg facility.