January 9, 2011
Letters, Massachusetts

Road to energy efficiency is not paved with turbines

www.capecodonline.com 8 January 2011

Fast-tracking wind energy is a move toward energy efficiency, in the mind of our governor (“Patrick: Wind energy part of the agenda,” Jan. 5).

However, he is an ardent proponent of Cape Wind, which is 130 wind turbines and an electric service platform. GE “discontinued” the offshore model that Cape Wind initially specified. Cape Wind later announced the conditional agreement to purchase Siemens 3.6-megawatt wind turbines. This Siemens model has “significant problems with the corrosion protection of pitch bearings,” according to Recharge, which reports on renewable energy news.

All monopile foundations, as Cape Wind has specified it will use, are sinking and shifting offshore, reports The Independent in the U.K.: “Everybody in the industry has this problem so all of us are interested in solving it,” a spokesman for Dong Energy said. “This shows this is a young industry and there are experiences to learn from.”

The wind bill creates a permitting board that “has the authority to waive any local requirements needed to permit the facility, including, e.g., use limits and height limits in local zoning bylaws.”

The wind bill undermines citizens’ rights by design. The road to energy efficiency is not paved with wind turbines.

Barbara Durkin

Northboro

Cape Cod Times,


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/01/09/road-to-energy-efficiency-is-not-paved-with-turbines/