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News Watch Home

Mayor signs wind turbine contract 

Credit:  Written by Liz Holland, Staff Writer | Somerset Herald | www.delmarvanow.com/ ~~

CRISFIELD – Construction of a 750-kilowatt wind turbine next to Crisfield’s sewage treatment is expected to “start moving immediately” once a contract is signed with the construction company.

Mayor Percy Purnell told City Council members at a meeting this week that he planned to sign the papers that night.

Bearing Construction Co. was awarded the $3.2 million contract in January after submitting the lowest of three bids.

Funding for the wind turbine won approval from the Maryland Board of Public Works in March. The city will receive $3.6 million – a $453,000 green loan and a $3.17 million green grant in the form of loan forgiveness – from the state’s Water Quality State Revolving Loan Fund.

City officials plan to place the turbine at the end of Dixon Street to provide power to the sewer plant and save the city $150,000 to $200,000 a year.

Purnell said appraisals have been completed on land next to the site and offers have been made to the three property owners.

Although the turbine is expected to generate more than enough electricity to power the sewer plant, it must still connect to the grid since the plant needs a consistent source of electricity, and the turbine’s output could fluctuate depending on how windy it is, officials have said.

The city also can sell the excess electricity back to the grid.

The project has been scaled down from its original design after officials at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in St. Mary’s County expressed concerns that turbines will interfere with radar systems.

The turbine now planned for a site will be under the 300-foot height limit set by the Navy.

Meanwhile, plans to build a wind farm in Somerset County were put on hold indefinitely after County Commissioners in October tabled adoption of an ordinance that would allow installation of industrial turbines over 10,000 acres of Westover farmland.

The decision to set the matter aside came three weeks after officials with Naval Air Station Patuxent River presented the findings of a new study that detailed how large-scale wind energy systems could interfere with radar systems at the base across the Chesapeake Bay in St. Mary’s County.

Since wind farm developers would need to get approval from the U.S. Department of Defense and the Maryland Public Service Commission before they begin construction, commissioners said they feared the Navy would try to veto any projects.

Officials also have seen opposition to the ordinance from a group of residents in Marion Station who are concerned about whether turbines can create health problems for people living within a close proximity to the structures.

Source:  Written by Liz Holland, Staff Writer | Somerset Herald | www.delmarvanow.com/

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

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