June 1, 2019
Massachusetts

Town manager to evaluate wind turbine letters of interest

Brad Cole | May 31, 2019 | www.capenews.net

The Town of Falmouth is not rushing to remove its two wind turbines at the wastewater treatment plant on Blacksmith Shop Road.

“Given we are working with $5 to $10 million in taxpayer assets, we are not going to act imprudently or prematurely,” Town Manager Julian M. Suso said yesterday, Thursday, May 30. “We are disposing of the assets. That is what the board of selectmen voted. That is not in question. We are doing this in the most financially prudent way.”

The town has not issued a formal request for proposals regarding the wind turbines. In January, the Falmouth Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to ask town administration to create requests for proposals to either lease property outside of Falmouth to run the wind turbines, sell the turbines, or re-purpose a wind turbine tower as a cellphone and repeater tower.

In April, Mr. Suso issued a notice requesting letters of interest for a wind turbine project host agreement.

“We issued an notice and published it, saying we would accept letters of interest until the end of the day [May 30],” he said. “I’m going to be reviewing and assembling what we have. I intend on issuing something within the coming week.”

The notice states Falmouth is looking to relocate and operate its two Vestas 1.65 megawatt V-82 wind turbines with 80-meter-tall towers at an alternative location. If the town is unable to negotiate a mutually beneficial host agreement, the town will consider sale of the wind turbines, dismantling the blades and repurposing the towers as communication towers and dismantling the wind turbines and removing them for private use elsewhere.

Mr. Suso said the town has received “between four and six different contacts,” although that number may increase. In addition, while the notice requesting letters of interest has a May 30 deadline, Mr. Suso said there is some flexibility with that date, because it is not a formal RFP.

Issuing an RFP will be the next step.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/06/01/town-manager-to-evaluate-wind-turbine-letters-of-interest/