Staples shelves wind turbine plan
FRAMINGHAM — Paltry gusts have taken the wind out of a plan to erect a 200-foot wind turbine at Staples corporate headquarters off Rte. 9.
The Zoning Board of Appeals gave the go-ahead for the office supply giant to build a 120-foot meteorological test tower to measure wind velocity on the side of a hill near 500 Staples Drive.
The data collected from the spring until December indicates the wind is not strong enough to make the project financially worthwhile.
Mark Buckley, the company’s vice president of environmental affairs, said wind power ideally would measure 5 to 7 meters-per-second (11 to 15 mph).
The wind measured less than the 5 meter-per-second threshold, Buckley said.
Staples had hoped the structure would power 20-24 percent of its 650,000-square-foot corporate headquarters.
The project began with a $35,500 feasibility study, partially funded through the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust in late 2006.
“To my knowledge it would have been the first such project in town,” Buckley said.
He would not rule out a turbine installation in the future.
If the technology develops that could essentially “do more with less wind,” then Staples may revisit the idea, Buckley said.
The news comes as the town grapples with the creation of wind turbine guidelines. A group of elected officials have worked to mold a bylaw dealing exclusively with renewable energy.
Last spring, Town Meeting referred a proposal that would have set up guidelines for a wind turbine to an ad hoc wind energy conversion facility bylaw committee.
Town Meeting members Yaakov Cohn and Tom O’Neil sponsored the rejected proposal. Both serve on the committee.
The proposal accounted for turbine height, noise, blade glint and shadow flicker.
Some, like Selectmen Dennis Giombetti who serves on the ad hoc committee, thought that initiative did little to encourage alternative energy as viable resource.
“This article before you will take a big step backward,” Giombetti told Town Meeting in May.
Tom Mahoney, chairman of the consequent ad hoc committee, was hopeful that group would go to spring Town Meeting with a draft wind turbine bylaw.
Dawn Harkness, chairwoman of the Greener Framingham Committee and member of the ad hoc committee, said the scuttling of the Staples turbine plans proved “the process of evaluation works.”
“Nobody wants to erect these towers where wind doesn’t exist,” she said.
Cohn, whose proposal was scuttled at Town Meeting, said he does not think Framingham is a proper location for wind turbines.
He said a minimum of a setback of a mile and a half from any home would suffice.
“I’ve been researching these for nearly a year and no responsible agency would promote these close to homes,” Cohn said. “I completely agree that the town should do everything it can to pursue green energy options. However, a wind turbine near a home…is criminally irresponsible.”
Some have said Cohn’s proposal was too strict and would essentially make it impossible for anyone to build a turbine in town.
Yesterday, O’Neil said he favored the development of wind energy, so long as it benefited the community.
“Don’t let them give the impression they were doing it for the good of the community,” he said. “They were doing it for the good of Staples.”
By Dan McDonald
Daily News Staff
31 December 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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