October 12, 2007
Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The newly formed Alternative Energy Committee will visit an isolated site along the electric high-tension line near the P.J. Keating quarry Saturday where a wind turbine might prove suitable for construction someday.
“We want to scout it out; it’s out of the way of neighborhoods” Selectman David E. Wojnar said.
“We’re educating ourselves about alternative energy sources, and our goal is to one day make the town more energy self-sufficient.”
The committee also plans to visit the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, where the first wind turbine to ever be installed on state property provides about $300,000 worth of electric savings for the college each year.
“We think we can learn things from these visits,” Mr. Wojnar said.
“We’re coming to learn that you don’t have to go out and find wind-tunnel locations. A lot of this depends on the kind of turbine you might want to put up.”
The committee is giving itself a year to learn about alternative energy possibilities and funding opportunities as well as report its recommendations to selectmen.
“We’re looking at 15 years out,” Mr. Wojnar said. “Not necessarily tomorrow. There’s a lot to learn, and everything’s changing out there. But if we can make the town more energy efficient, we can take a big step to becoming energy self-sufficient.”
The Mass. Maritime turbine, meanwhile, has been subjected to avian test studies to make sure terns and their migratory patterns from Bird Island off Marion would not be interrupted or disrupted.
The town of Barnstable, meanwhile, is considering a wind turbine at its Hyannis waste treatment plant.
The Acushnet committee will meet again Nov. 13 at 6:30 p.m in Town Hall.
By Paul Gately
Standard-Times correspondent
12 October 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/10/12/acushnet-panel-to-scout-potential-turbine-site/