August 23, 2013
Letters, Massachusetts

State needs to bail out failed turbine projects

Cape Cod Times | August 23, 2013 | www.capecodonline.com

A recent letter claimed that the Falmouth wind turbines were properly sited within the recommended limits.

Unfortunately the state’s guideline turned out to grossly underestimate safe setbacks. The Cape Cod Commission determined that setbacks need to be 10 times rotor diameter. For Falmouth that comes to about 3,000 feet, making all three turbines inappropriately sited.

The state Department of Environmental Protection found Wind 1 exceeds noise pollution regulations. By implication, so do the other two. State guidelines continue unchanged to this day.

Towns that learned from the mistakes in Falmouth have adopted stricter by-laws to protect residents. Towns like Fairhaven, Kingston, Scituate, Plymouth and others failed to learn from the Falmouth mistake, and have found themselves in the same predicament as Falmouth.

For residential areas, solar is better. Wind energy advocates, who continue to insist there is nothing wrong in Falmouth, only serve to discredit the state’s renewable energy goals. The state needs to bail out the failed projects starting with Falmouth.

Chris Kapsambelis

Pocasset

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/08/23/state-needs-to-bail-out-failed-turbine-projects/