Select Board to study new wind proposal
MANCHESTER — The Town is contemplating what position to take concerning a petition by Endless Energy Corporation (EEC), NRG Systems and Earth Turbines to construct an 80-foot high, 2.5 kilowatt, test wind turbine on top of Little Equinox Mountain.
“I would lean toward opposing this based on what was voted on at town meeting,” said Select Board chairman Ivan Beattie.
At town meeting in 2006 the town voted to appropriate $150,000 to oppose a project by Endless Energy Corp. to construct five three-megawatt turbines, which would have been 410 feet tall at the tip of the blade.
The subject of this smaller scale tower — which would remain on Mount Equinox through 2010 if approved by the Public Service Board — puts the board in an “interesting position,” Beattie said, because while they would like to advocate for alternative energy sources it was clear that the community was not in favor of wind projects on that site.
However, because of the size of the project, Beattie wondered whether voters would still be opposed.
“I’d be hard pressed to say that this proposal is an extension of the proposal we were asked to oppose,” said Beattie. “If we hadn’t had a vote at town meeting to take a particular course of action this would be a no brainer.”
The larger concern among some board members seemed be whether this project may be a precursor to larger projects in the near future.
Harley Lee, President of Endless Energy Corp. — a wind development company out of Yarmouth, Maine — said in an interview last week that he expected to present a new proposal within the next six months that would be similar in terms of the number and height of the machines.
In an affidavit in support of the petition for the 80-foot wind turbine, Lee stated that EEC hoped to install wind turbines on Little Equinox Mountain under a proposed innovative community wind structure that would provide local residents, businesses, and other utility customers with cost effective power.
The direct benefit to the community was an issue during the proposal in 2005 as the electricity was going to be sold to the Burlington Electric Department. This time around, Lee said the intention is to have the power benefit residents directly.
“… That’s where we’re headed,” Lee said in a previous interview. “We have a low price to begin with and it escalates at a low rate and I think that would appeal even more to people. [Also] I think people are more cognizant of the risk of fossil fuel prices going up so that should help us as well.”
If the proposal is presented after town meeting and the community is in favor of it at that point, Beattie said a special town meeting would have to be called so the voters could direct the Select Board to change direction.
If, on the other hand, the community did not reverse their position, Manchester Town Manager John O’Keefe said the town would still have the $150,000 they appropriated at the 2006 town meeting available to oppose the project.
Brandon Canevari
Editor
31 October 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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