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.
Is the answer blowing in the wind?
Communities around the state — including Laconia, Gilford and Plymouth — are talking about wind power energy systems and whether local zoning laws should be changed to accommodate them.
Earlier this year, Gov. John Lynch signed into law House Bill 310, which sets maximum restrictions on what a community can do when someone proposes to erect a wind tower to generate electricity. The communities have until July 11, 2009, to enact their own responses to the state law or to . . .
Renewable energy stance wishful thinking
Your editorial of Nov. 7 touching on renewable energy needs clarity. Technology and physics unfortunately do not bend to political wishful thinking.
The distributive energy systems (wind and solar power) proposed to replace our conventional power plants will require enormous energy storage mechanisms yet to be invented to succeed. The grid is not a storage device. It is like a highway for electrons and not for storing electrical energy. When you turn on your light bulb, the electrical energy is . . .
Wind farm in Lempster picks up steam
It’s a bit behind schedule, but a $48 million project to bring wind power to New Hampshire via a dozen huge turbines near Mount Sunapee should be up and running at full power by Christmas.
The 24-megawatt installation will produce enough electricity to power roughly 10,000 homes a year. The first of its 12 turbines on a ridge near Mount Sunapee cranked up Oct. 21, and four more followed suit by a few days later.
Lempster Wind was built and . . .
PSNH eyes electric rate hike; Consumer bills could jump almost 10 percent
Public Service Company of New Hampshire has filed for almost a 10 percent hike in electric rates for next year.
State regulators will hold a hearing on the request on Dec. 4 at the Public Utilities Commission headquarters, 21 South Fruit St., Suite 10, in Concord. Organizations and individuals that are stakeholders in this process will have a chance to comment at the hearing.
“Each year we have to provide to the Public Utilities Commission the real numbers of our . . .
Town has just 1 turbine, but mulls regulations
DERRY — Atop a hill at the end of Gamache Road, Ronald Boyle owns the sole wind turbine in the surrounding area.
Asked if he saves on energy bills, he said, “Yes and no.” The turbine takes care of the bills in the winter, but he has yet to recoup the cost of installing it.
But Boyle could soon have company, if more homeowners decide to cut energy costs by building a windmill.
Derry’s Planning Board anticipates windmills will figure . . .
Wind energy could take some time for benefits; Large wind farm being built in Lempster
More wind farms may start cropping up across New Hampshire, but questions remain about how profitable they are.
A new state law pushes energy companies to use more renewable energy, including wind. But how affective turbines are remains largely untested.
The most visible wind power project in the state may be in Lempster, where European company Iberdrola is building the state’s first commercial wind farm. The hope is that 12 256-foot tall turbines will produce enough electricity to power 10,000 . . .
Blowback
Hartland — Wind energy is gaining momentum in New England.
New Hampshire’s first commercial wind project will be completed atop Lempster Mountain by the end of this year and another one is being considered in Coos County. The company behind the Lempster wind farm — Iberdrola Renewables — plans to put new wind projects in Deerfield, Vt., and Hoosac, Mass., while other energy companies scout sites on New England ridgelines.
Eric Rosenbloom would prefer the projects never got built.
The 47-year-old Hartland resident . . .
Proposed wind farm in Millsfield is drawing opposition
Drive through Lempster these days and you’ll see the progress being made on the state’s first commercial wind farm.
When up and running, the 12 windmills on Lempster Mountain are expected to produce enough clean renewable energy for about 10 thousands homes.
With America increasingly looking for clean energy and independence from oil, wind farms are one possibility.
A big one is proposed for Coos County.
The project has its fans, but it also has it opponents.
NHPR correspondent Chris Jensen . . .
Coos County wind farm draws opposition
Residents in the North Country in New Hampshire want a wind project put on hold.
A company wants to build 33 turbines in Dixville and Millsfield. The project would create 200 jobs, and power 33,000 homes.
But some residents want the company to postpone building the wind farm until a number of proposed wood-burning power plants in the region are built. Some say those plants will produce more jobs.
Both projects can’t be done at the same time, because either . . .
Coos turbine forum stresses job creation
Representatives for the company looking to build 33 wind turbines on ridgelines in the unincorporated areas of Dixville and Millsfield fielded some tough questions from the more than 120 people who attended a public hearing in Groveton last night.
Some focused on the details: How would birds and bats be affected? What kind of safety regulations would be in place during construction? Will the turbines affect flight patterns?
Others had a broader concern: Will the company, Granite Reliable Power, postpone . . .
