November 1, 2012
Massachusetts

Ipswich’s Turbine II expected to arrive this month

By Sally Kuhn | GateHouse News Service | November 1, 2012 | www.wickedlocal.com

Wind Turbine II is scheduled to be erected at the end of Town Farm Road by Thanksgiving.

It will be tested in early December. Plans are in the works for a solar collection facility at 100 Town Farm. The two projects make Town Farm Road Ipswich’s solar road.

A plan to erect a Ground Mounted Solar Voltaic Installation (GSI) on 10 acres at 100 Town Farm Road has been discussed with the Ipswich Electric Light Department. The owners of the installation, Capital Energy Partners, Bonito Springs, Florida, will lease the property from owner Mary Canzano. Canzano’s 19.6 acre property is off the road.

The GSI solar panels are not attached to a building but to steel or aluminum frames that are driven into a concrete foundation on the ground.

Ipswich Utilities Director Tim Henry said the facility’s output capacity would be two megawatts. That is “part of our goal of increasing renewable energy,” he said.

Henry didn’t as yet know how many panels would be installed. The next step, he said, will be for the company to go before the Planning Board to get a Special Permit and Site Plan Review.

On Oct. 15, Special Town Meeting passed Article 5 which allows GSI’s in the residential and most districts by Special Permit. They are allowed by right in the industrial district. The bylaw was prompted by the Town Farm Road proposal.

In order to get a Special Permit, a company would have to prove that the facility would not impact open space or agriculture. It would have to prepare a report on the property’s natural features, like the flora, wildlife, wetlands, and water ways. What would the impacts of land clearing be on soil erosion? Would the installation would cause groundwater management problems and other issues?

A maintenance plan would have to be prepared and a surety put up to provide money in case the town had to remove the installation.

The structures shall be screened and compatible with the surrounding architecture.

The wind turbine will be delivered to Portland Maine on Monday, Oct. 19, Henry said. Over the next couple of weeks, parts will be transported to Ipswich. The hope was to have it erected by mid November, Henry said. Testing would start in early December. . D&C Construction, Rockland Mass. owns the turbine, a Hyundai HQ20 MV, manufactured in Korea.

The 262 foot tall wind turbine will be erected near Wind Turbine I on town-owned land at 180 Town Farm Road. The foundation has been prepared. The electricity generated will be sold to the Ipswich Electric Light Department.

According to the purchase power agreement, D&C will sell electricity to the town for $116 per megawatt hour or 11.6 cents a kilowatt-hour for the next 10 years. For the second 10 years, it will charge $70 a megawatt hour, or 7 cents a kilowatt-hour. That averages to 9.3 cents a kilowatt-hour, which is less than the 10.3 cents per kilowatt-hour Turbine I now costs.