National Wind Watch: Wind Energy News » New Bourne wind turbine plan drops another unit

BOURNE – Yet another version of the controversial wind project is in front of the county’s regulatory board.

A third New Generation Wind turbine has been eliminated from the project, bringing the number down to four from the original seven proposed by the Lorusso family and Panhandle Trust owner Tudor “Jerry” Ingersoll.

“As initially proposed, we thought it was a good project,” project spokesman Greg O’Brien of the Stony Brook Group said. “But we’re trying to come up with a better project.”

In early June, a turbine along the Scenic Highway near Bournedale Road and another one close to Route 25 were nixed. The elimination of the third turbine, known as Turbine 4, came after NStar told project backers it didn’t conform with a request they had made for turbines to be located at least 1.5 times the turbine height – or about 750 feet – from NStar property.

Turbine 2 was also not in compliance and was moved farther away from NStar’s property, O’Brien said. It will be 1,250 feet from the nearest home.

Moving Turbine 4 instead of removing it would have placed it several hundred feet closer to a residential neighborhood.

“We’ve listened carefully to the concerns of our neighbors and felt the relocation of Turbine 4 would result in our being too close to the Heather Hill homes,” he said.

Residents in the area had spoken vehemently against that particular turbine, with some at a recent Cape Cod Commission hearing on the project presenting images of a turbine looming above well-groomed properties.

The three other remaining turbines, numbers 1, 5 and 7, are located farther from homes, between 1,300 and 1,600 feet away, O’Brien said.

Project opponents appreciated New Generation’s latest concession.

“It shows they’re earnestly trying to work with the neighbors,” said Bourne Selectman Jamie Sloniecki, who has been an outspoken opponent of the project.

Sloniecki said he’s frustrated with the project’s gradual changes, but he’s “excited that it’s working out the way it is.”