Wind Power News: New Hampshire
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch.
Residents weigh in on wind ordinance
ANTRIM — In the third public hearing held Monday on a proposed large-scale wind ordinance, the Planning Board took feedback from residents on both sides of the issue, with comments focusing on tower height and noise restrictions. Jesse Lazar, vice-chair of the Planning Board, said there would be no further changes made to the ordinance before voting on March 13. However, should the ordinance pass, amendments could be made at future Town Meetings, and he encouraged residents to continue to . . .
Proposed windmills would be state’s tallest; Company wants 492-foot turbines
An Antrim wind project will be the tallest in the state and may power as many as 13,000 New Hampshire homes if a state committee determines it belongs on Tuttle Hill. Antrim Wind Energy LLC, part of Eolian Renewable Energy of Delaware, last week submitted its formal application to build a 30 megawatt wind farm on the ridgeline of Tuttle Hill. Much of the town has embraced the project. The town itself has large-scale wind energy as part of its . . .
Wind farm files for OK in Antrim
ANTRIM — The company looking to build a wind farm near Tuttle Hill has submitted its application to state regulators. Antrim Wind Energy, a subsidiary of Portsmouth-based Eolian Renewable Energy, filed its application for the 30-megawatt-producing facility earlier this week. The application goes to the state’s Site Evaluation Committee, which is made up of members from various state agencies and will decide if the project can move forward. That committee takes jurisdiction of projects 30 megawatts or more and can . . .
North Country towns take on Northern Pass
To give them a legal tool and strengthen their position if it would ever go to court, several North Country towns, including Sugar Hill, are trying to adopt ordinances to keep Northern Pass out. “It’s a way to fight back and take the town’s rights back,” Janet Anderson, a Sugar Hill Northern Pass Advisory Committee member said Tuesday. “At the moment, we have no say over permits and what we are allowed to do.” Other towns proposing similar ordinances on . . .
Northern Pass continues purchasing Coos parcels
Northern Pass continues to buy up land in Coos County as the House bill to prevent private utilities from using eminent domain to acquire private property goes back to the New Hampshire Senate. Passed by a 23-1 Senate vote on Tuesday was House Bill 648, which seeks to prohibit private utilities such as Northern Pass from employing eminent domain to acquire private land. In Coos County, Northern Pass is seeking land for its proposed $1.1 billion, 1,200-megawatt, 180-mile hydroelectric transmission . . .
New Hampshire Senate blocks eminent domain for Northern Pass
CONCORD, N.H. — The state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would prevent the controversial Northern Pass power transmission project from taking property by eminent domain. The near-unanimous measure combines language in the state constitution and existing law to guarantee private property rights against private acquisition. “While public purposes sometimes require the taking of private property by eminent domain as a last resort, it is completely inappropriate that New Hampshire citizens should live in fear of taking by private . . .
New England transmission debated as generation additions continue
New England’s policies supporting building increased renewable generation is underpinning pressure to invest in new transmission infrastructure in the region, with advocates for new power lines saying the projects will boost employment and alleviate existing high regional electricity costs. Each of the six states in the New England region has “some form” of renewable energy portfolio standard, the organizers of the New England Clean Energy Transmission Summit held this week in Boston, said. Those state policies align with federal policies . . .
New rules could boost New England renewable power
New England is decidedly short on coal mines and oil wells, but electricity grid watchers say a recent federal order could help the region finally unlock the power in the energy sources it does have. A federal order issued last fall is intended to make it easier to construct transmission lines, costly and controversial projects that are notoriously tough to build. More wires are badly needed in New England to connect customers to the region’s often remote sources of renewable . . .
Forest society meets $850K goal
The forest society did not object to the deed to Hebert and Dagesse that sets aside a perpetual easement for a wind farm parcel south of The Balsams that Murray said would have a greater visual impact than would a Northern Pass hydroelectric transmission line.
Gingrich opines on Northern Pass
Tapping into a “deep feeling” in northern New Hampshire that the Northern Pass project would mar the region’s beauty and undermine its tourism industry, Newt Gingrich said he would withhold his support unless the power lines go underground. “The application that I would be willing to consider as president would have to require burials, and it would have to require that the Northern Pass project be an underground project,” Gingrich said yesterday morning to a group of reporters after a . . .
