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Questions about city’s renewable energy plan, by Fred Ward
Credit: The Keene Sentinel | April 6, 2019 | www.sentinelsource.com ~~
To Dr. Ann Shedd, chair of the Keene Energy and Climate Committee, and the Keene City Council:
Thank you for the time to present my thoughts as a professional meteorologist on your project to develop a strategic plan for Keene to go to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. It hardly seems necessary to point out that all renewable energy is renewed by the weather; the sun, the wind and the rain. I have two questions, which you will have to address in your plan, and again I offer my expert assistance.
Since a major fraction of the renewable energy must of necessity come from wind power, where do you propose to site the necessary turbines required to generate that power? Will any of these sites be located within the Keene city boundaries, or visible from the streets of Keene? If not, have you contacted the towns in which these sites will be located. My concern as a resident of Stoddard is that the closest viable wind sites to Keene are along the MerriConn Ridge, the hills which separate the Connecticut and Merrimack river valleys. It runs from the existing turbines in Lempster, south through Marlow, Stoddard and Nelson, over the top of Mount Monadnock, and continues south to Massachusetts.
My second question is what generation facilities will you recommend to satisfy your electric power requirements when the wind is light or calm? The official meteorological wind data show that when the winds are light or calm in any area covered by the New England electric grid, they are mostly light or calm all over New England. Do you plan to import from sources substantially outside the calm over New England? Will these sources be renewable? Will you be able to construct the huge high-capacity electric lines running through dozens of other states?
Sincerely,
FRED WARD
386 Route 123 South
Stoddard
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