September 8, 2011
Massachusetts

BCC to hold pubic forum about proposed wind turbine on Fall River campus

Bristol Community College, www.bristol.mass.edu

Bristol Community College invites its neighbors and other interested people to attend a public forum regarding the installation of a 900kW wind turbine on the north end of the Fall River Campus.

The open meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 20, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth College Center cafeteria. College officials, and staff from the Department of Capital Asset Management, Clean Energy Council, and the Department of Energy Resources, as well as the consulting acoustical engineer, will be at the meeting to describe the project and to answer questions of the public.

The wind turbine is expected to produce an estimated 1,441,000kW (kilowatts) annually, approximately 25 percent of the College’s current electrical consumption and a projected savings of up to $190,000 in electric costs based on current rates. It joins the College’s solar panels installed over the last three years on three buildings to generate electricity, and becomes yet another part of the College’s energy savings efforts. In the last four years, the College has reduced electric and gas consumption by 25 percent and water consumption by 35 percent.

“Using fewer of the world’s limited resources just makes sense in the 21st century,” Dr. John J. Sbrega, President of Bristol Community College, said. “We seek to be good stewards of public funds and to prepare our students for the new economy, and this installation will be a critical opportunity for us.” In 2003, President Sbrega was a charter signatory on the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, a national pledge to limit carbon emissions in College business.

The College will manage a website for the project with pertinent documents and reporting progress. Visit the site at: Wind turbine information.

The tower is projected to be 300 feet tall and will be situated along route 24 to the north of the College pond. The site was chosen after a year-long monitoring of wind speed and patterns. The project is expected to cost approximately $2.7 million and to take up to one year to manufacture and install. Grants and private funding are being packaged to pay for the project, and the bidding process is expected to begin this fall.

More than 70 colleges and universities in the country have wind turbines, and at least seven are in Massachusetts.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/09/08/bcc-to-hold-pubic-forum-about-proposed-wind-turbine-on-fall-river-campus/