National Wind Watch: Wind Energy News » Meeting Tues. on wind turbines and energy systems

FARMINGTON— The Planning Board will hold a public meeting Tuesday night featuring a presentation on wind turbines by an expert from the state Office of Energy and Planning (OEP).

According to board Chairman Paul Parker, the presentation is aimed at answering the many questions about wind turbines and wind energy that some in the community have. Parker said that for several years now, the Planning Board has worked to adopt a local ordinance for the town regarding wind turbines and small wind energy systems. Parker said while the state controls much of the permitting for such projects, communities are encouraged to adopt their own ordinances, giving them more local control over wind energy projects.

If a community does not have one of these ordinances, however, the state takes over, making the process of building a small wind turbine in town more difficult, Parker said.

“If we adopt a local ordinance and then answer the community’s questions, it makes it a lot easier for someone here to put up (a wind turbine),” Parker said Friday.

Having a town ordinance regarding wind energy would also allow the town to ensure that proposed projects are right for the community and that they will not interfere with neighbors, something that Parker said the state would not look at as closely.

Parker said that the Planning Board has struggled throughout the process of trying to adopt a wind energy ordinance to answer all of the community’s questions, and said he hopes Tuesday’s presentation will help. “It’s an emerging field, and we’re hoping to make it easier and better for people if they want to make usage of these things,” he said.

Residents from surrounding communities are also welcome to attend the presentation. “I’m hoping that quite a few members of surrounding communities take advantage of this,” Parker said. “If we have questions, they probably have questions, too … I think it will be a very interesting evening.”

The meeting will be held at Town Hall beginning at 6 p.m. The wind turbine presentation is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.