More compalints filed about Kingston's Independence turbine

KINGSTON – When the wind isn’t blowing from the south or southwest, shutting down the Independence wind turbine isn’t an option without further action by the Board of Health.

Based on the abatement order approved by the board back in August 2014, it can order the turbine to be shut down between midnight and 4 a.m. if the wind is traveling from south and southwest directions in excess of 8 meters per second.

But complaints continue to be lodged with the Board of Health over the noise from the turbine. Monday night that led board member Toni Cushman to raise the possibility of modifying the existing order regulating excessive noise levels.

With the final acoustical monitoring study report finally released, a public hearing on the issue has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19.

While Cushman said she doesn’t have a problem with the notion of holding off on further action until after the public hearing, she worries that any further delays would be unfair. Board members have said they will most likely continue the hearing. But for how long, Cushman asked.

Board of Health Chairman Bill Watson said the wind direction requirement is the kind of loophole than can be closed by the board’s approval of a new abatement order that would supercede the one enacted more than a year ago.

And town counsel Jay Talerman is working on a new abatement order that he will present at the public hearing, Watson added. The state Department of Environmental Protection and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center will also make presentations during that meeting.

The board had been waiting for the release of the final technical report and its review by the state Department of Environmental Protection before taking any further action involving Kingston Wind Independence, the turbine’s owner, which leases the land where the turbine is located from the town.

MassCEC Program Director Nils Bolgen recently notified stakeholders that technical comments about the study – and a response prepared by consultants Harris Miller Miller Hanson, MassCEC and DEP – are available online at www.masscec.com/content/wind-energy-research-and-analysis.

Follow Kathryn Gallerani on Twitter @kgallreporter.

More compalints filed about Kingston"s Independence turbine

Tamástslikt takes another step toward energy independence

A crane holds the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute’s new 50-kilowatt Endurance E-3120 wind turbine nacelle in place as workers assemble the electricity-generating works to the tower. The completed wind turbine was dedicated on Thursday. Courtesy photo

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MISSION — The Tamástslikt Cultural Institute dedicated its new 50-kilowatt Endurance E-3120 wind turbine on Thursday, the latest step on the interpretive center and museum’s path toward creating a net-zero energy building.

Net-zero energy is achieved when on-site renewable energy generation meets a building’s energy needs over one year.

Over the last decade, Tamástslikt — on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, has made energy-saving improvements that have reduced electricity and natural gas usage by 63 percent and 76 percent, respectively, and saved nearly $750,000 in energy costs to date, according to a Tamástslikt news release.

The new turbine — said in the release to be the first of its kind in Oregon and the only wind turbine on a reservation in the Pacific Northwest — is expected to produce more than 94,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, or about 20 percent of the green building’s already diminished electricity demand. Tamástslikt estimates that this will add up to approximately $480,000 in energy savings over 30 years.

The wind turbine was funded with a $170,992 incentive from Energy Trust of Oregon and up to $257,372 through a funding award from customers of Pacific Power’s Blue SkySM renewable energy program.

“The project sets a great example for the community by making a visible commitment to renewable energy, increasing awareness about the region’s developing wind resource and reducing Tamástslikt’s operating costs,” said Bill Clemens, Pacific Power’s regional community manager in Walla Walla.

Tamástslikt takes another step toward energy independence