Recent Gazette articles on the state’s draft ocean management plan have raised questions about the plan, especially the renewable energy opportunities it identifies for Massachusetts waters. On behalf of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles, I would like to address a couple of them, namely, alleged “new” powers granted the Energy Facilities Siting Board to override local authority, and whether the Martha’s Vineyard community will have a meaningful role in potential development of wind energy off its shores.
On Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. Peter Cabana will give a lecture, Wind Economics 101, at the Vineyard Haven library. The lecture will begin with the basics of wind generated electricity and then follow up with what has happened in Europe, the opportunities available to the United States and how Massachusetts is positioned to lead the nation. Mr.
Private and commercial wind turbines should not have a significant impact on bird populations in the town of Aquinnah as long as suitable regulations are in place, said Matt Pelikan, Islands program director for The Nature Conservancy, in a public forum held Wednesday night.
The forum was part of a series sponsored by the Aquinnah planning board on a new draft bylaw to regulate wind turbine use in town.
Imagine a future in which you join a farm share program and receive, along with your in-season fruit, vegetables and flowers, cheap electricity.
A future where you receive a wider range of produce over a longer season, maybe even year-round, as greenhouses proliferate on those farms, taking advantage of that cheaper, price-stable, renewable energy.
On Sunday night opponents of wind development off Vineyard shores — including selectmen, fishermen, Wampanoags and a Republican candidate for Massachusetts governor — were given a megaphone to voice their views.
Hosted by POINT (Protect Our Islands Now for Tomorrow), a group led by Andrew Goldman of Chilmark, the forum drew a large crowd to the Chilmark Community Center.
“We will have the largest concentration of turbines anywhere in the world,” declared Mr. Goldman, who moderated the forum.
Vineyarders Jonathan and Linda M. Haar work in wind power technology, but one thing they share with wind energy opponents is an objection to seeing enormous towers built in pristine places.
And their concern is not just aesthetic, but practical. It would, they reasoned, make much more sense to generate the power as close as possible to where the power is used.
Hence their innovative new turbine, tested for the first time at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport this week: a turbine standing just 20 feet tall, intended to be mounted on city buildings.
Wind developers pressed ahead on two fronts this week, as two new players entered the fray with proposals to develop wind farms in waters west of the Vineyard and Cape Wind put the final touches on a deal to sell electricity to National Grid.
