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Wind Power News: Vermont
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Federal regulators uphold controversial grid proposal that could slow clean energy
Despite months of protests by clean energy activists and official pleas from public figures including Elizabeth Warren, federal regulators approved a plan by the region’s energy grid operator that could slow the development of clean electricity for two years. The decision, handed down by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ( FERC), late Friday night, affirms a plan by ISO New England to wait two years to remove a mechanism that makes it harder for clean energy projects to enter the . . . Complete story »
Forked tongue
Sam Carlson, representative for David Blittersdorf’s proposed large industrial turbine on Grandpa’s Knob, says in Wednesday’s Herald that the mountain site for this machine is environmentally extremely sensitive. Carlson states he wants the select boards from the neighboring towns to visit the site, but he wants to keep the total number of select board members and others involved to a minimum because “There are sensitive, rare and endangered plants up there that we have to be careful about.” If people’s . . . Complete story »
Wind developers invite boards to visit Grandpa’s Knob site
CASTLETON – Town officials have been invited to tour the site of a proposed single-turbine wind project to be built on Grandpa’s Knob. The Grandpa’s Knob Community Wind Project first came into the public eye last fall when the developers behind it began talking to select boards and planning commissions in the towns the turbine might be visible in. Those include Castleton and Hubbardton for certain, with Rutland Town, Pittsford, West Rutland and Proctor also being approached. The developer behind the . . . Complete story »
Upgrades to Lowell substation, two transmission lines, costs increase $5 million-plus, GMP confirms
MONTPELIER – Upgrades to the Lowell Substation and some 18.1 miles of the B20 transmission line from Johnson to Lowell, as well as upgrades to 1.5 miles of the B22 line in the towns of Eden, Johnson, Lowell and Morrisville – approved earlier in a petition to the Vermont Public Utility Commission (PUC) for separate Certificates of Public Good (CPG) – have increased in cost by $5.38 million since being proposed pre-pandemic. Costs for the substation upgrade in Lowell and the two transmission . . . Complete story »
Wind developer questioned by Rutland Town planners
Rutland Town Planning Commissioners want to know what the Grandpa’s Knob Community Wind Project will look like at night, how it will sound and what its true visual impacts will be. Sam Carlson, a representative for the project, met with the Planning Commission on Dec. 16. On Tuesday, Planning Commission Chair Barbara Noyes Pulling updated the Select Board about the talk and where things stand with the project, which is planned to be on Grandpa’s Knob in Castleton, but visible . . . Complete story »
Pittsford tables decision on Grandpa’s Knob project
PITTSFORD – While no one on the Select Board appears to be in favor of the wind project proposed for Grandpa’s Knob in Castleton, the board is split over when it should express its disapproval. At the Dec. 1 board meeting, a motion to send a letter in opposition to the project was defeated 2-3. A motion to then table the matter until Jan. 19 when the developer can give another presentation passed 4-1. The Grandpa’s Knob Community Wind Project is . . . Complete story »
Proctor opposes wind project
PROCTOR – While it’s not clear how much, if at all, the project would be visible from town, the Select Board decided to formally oppose the Grandpa’s Knob Community Wind project. The single-turbine project, floated by its developers as a tribute to a historic wind tower built on Grandpa’s Knob in the 1940s that no longer stands there, would be sited in Castleton and visible from there, Hubbardton, Pittsford, West Rutland and Rutland Town. The company has a website – grandpasknobcommunitywind.com – where . . . Complete story »
Grandpa’s Knob wind project visible from Rutland Town, developer to talk with Planning Commission
RUTLAND TOWN – A small portion of a controversial wind project proposed for Grandpa’s Knob in Castleton will be visible from part of Rutland Town, according to the developer’s latest simulations. The Select Board was informed of this Tuesday by Planning Commission Chair Barbara Noyes Pulling, who is also a staff member at the Rutland Regional Planning Commission where the Grandpa’s Knob Community Wind Project was discussed at a recent committee meeting. Pulling said until then no one knew the project . . . Complete story »
Proctor gives cool shoulder to turbine on Grandpa’s Knob
PROCTOR – A half dozen Proctor residents spoke out against a renewable energy project slated for Grandpa’s Knob that would seek to place a single 450-foot-tall wind turbine on the ridgeline there. Sam Carlson, who works in community relations for Grandpa’s Knob Community Wind, presented the project to the Proctor Select Board Monday night, Oct. 25, and fielded questions afterward. Carlson had already presented to Pittsford Oct. 6 and after Proctor’s meeting went to present to the Castleton Select Board. He . . . Complete story »
Grandpa’s Knob wind developers say project is worth exemption to town plans
PROCTOR – The developers behind the Grandpa’s Knob Community Wind project believe their proposal is special enough to warrant an exemption to the five town plans, and regional plan, that go against it. Sam Carlson, community relations for Grandpa’s Knob Community Wind, a project backed by solar developer David Blittersdorf, was before the select boards in Proctor and Castleton talking about the project on Oct. 25. It was his first time presenting it to Proctor; his second in Castleton. He’s been . . . Complete story »
