Conference Explores Social Challenges Of Wind

Connecticut is taking its first steps into the controversial world of wind energy. Recently two big wind projects have been proposed in Prospect and Colebrook. Other states in the region have grappled with the pros and cons for years. WNPR’s Nancy Cohen recently attended a conference in Plymouth, Massachusetts on the social challenges of developing wind energy and brought back this report.

At a meeting organized by the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences last month, Jonathan Raab, who has mediated disagreements over wind siting, told the crowd he likes to get all the legitimate stakeholders at the table, as early as possible. And doesn’t exclude contentious issues.

“How do we make the trade-offs between... localized visual impacts versus regional energy and reliability benefits and regional air pollution and global environmental issues?”

The local trade offs include putting up with the sight or the sound of a wind turbine versus the  broader benefit of reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Chris Powicki, President of the Cape and Islands Renewable Energy Collaborative, also spoke at the conference. He says wind turbines need to be in highly visible areas, like ridgelines, to generate enough energy because wind speed increases with height.

“That’s the conundrum we have with wind... is that it works best in areas where we can see it. That’s why there’s so much contention, so much discussion about getting these projects deployed, especially in the Northeast where there’s a lot of the population.“

Powicki says the public should be actively involved in the siting of a wind project rather than just having a chance to comment after a site is chosen.

“You can’t just tell people go visit a website and you’ll get some information. You have to talk with them and hear their concerns. When you know what public perception is I think, then...  developers can run a more effective process in siting a project and also in determining what’s an appropriate size. What’s the community going to accept?”

One place the community has been involved is Vinalhaven and North Haven Islands on Penobscot Bay in Maine. The electric utility there is an Electric Cooperative and is owned by the islanders. In 2008 ratepayers voted 382 to 5 to build three wind turbines. Before they were built these islands paid at least twice the national average for electricity. Now the energy portion of their electric bill has been reduced by 27%. Suzanne Pude is with the Island Institute.

“There are a number of islanders who are quite proud of it and are very pleased with the fact that the economics, the projections have actually panned out. That their power bills have gone down and have been stabilized.”

But Pude says some of the residents who live close to the turbines are bothered by sound.

“There’s a range of people saying that they are annoyed by the turbine noise. It’s difficult for them  to sleep. It’s not the noise they had  expected to hear.”

Recently Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection ordered the developers to come up with a plan to reduce noise levels.

In Falmouth, Massachusetts Neil Andersen lives a quarter mile from a 1.65 megawatt wind turbine. The  57-year-old energy-certified builder says when it was first built he couldn’t wait for the blades to start moving.

“I was hoping to extol the virtues of this turbine, but since it started turning my wife and I and some neighbors are a total wreck. It’s been a total nightmare.”

He says the sound and the low-frequency pulses have disrupted their sleep and more. Andersen lifts his hand, which is shaking with a tremor. He says he and his wife probably will have to move.

Sound problems from wind turbines are poorly understood and are just beginning to be studied. Some critics say the only way to mitigate sound problems is to shut off the wind turbines. But others say careful siting, far enough away from homes, is the answer.

Jesse Gossett from the Boston-based Emergent Energy Group has worked as a consultant to wind developers. He points out local benefits like lowering the cost of electricity in a town or increasing the tax base. But he says developers could  also offer other benefits to neighbors.

“You could own a piece of a project that’s in your town. It’s a fantastic investment opportunity. Why not offer it to the people directly impacted by the project?”

Rather than design, propose and then defend a project Gossett suggests developers start by having a conversation with residents.

“If it makes sense for them, if you can compensate them with benefits...local investment opportunities, reducing their power prices than it’s no longer an argument. Then they are on board with the project. And if they continue to oppose the project then it shouldn’t be built there.”

Choosing not to build a project that would bring hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax revenues into a town could be a tough decision in this economy. In Connecticut that decision is not up to the town or the residents, but the nine-member Connecticut Siting Council. 

For WNPR, I’m Nancy Cohen.