This Is A (Wind) Test

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by Melinda Tuhus | Apr 21, 2009 5:23 pm

(2) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Environment

The rain held off long enough at a Tuesday afternoon news conference to keep the focus on the wind — wind power, that is.

The news was that a 90-foot tower is being constructed topped by small, slowly turning blades to bring wind energy to New Haven.

Mayor John DeStefano is pictured, with an artist’s rendering of a turbine. He and representatives of the companies involved in the construction of the 90-foot tower had time to explain the project before the rain began pelting down.

After mentioning several of the city’s other renewable energy projects already operating — retrofitting of the city’s diesel fleet, the solar array at Barnard School, and the construction of the 360 State Street residential project as LEED-certified — he said the small, six-kilowatt turbine is being built in partnership with the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund

“This is not meant to change the total universe of energy sourcing in New Haven,” the mayor said with a flourish of understatement. It will power just the small building at the start of Long Wharf Pier and some of the adjacent street lights. The idea is to test the feasibility and the public’s appetite for wind energy. “It’s a tiny first step, but it’s a step.”

david%20ljunquist.JPG David Youngquist (pictured), associate director of the Clean Energy Fund, said, “Connecticut generally does not have really good wind resources. The purpose of this project is to help the Clean Energy Fund evaluate the usefulness and the economics of small wind installations in Connecticut.” It’s one of three small turbines being built around the state as part of the fund’s $500,000 Small Wind Turbine Demonstration Project. Measurements taken as they operate will provide more information about the feasibility of increasing wind capacity in the area. Ljunquist said the newer models are more bird-friendly than older ones.

Shawn Shaw, an associate of Cadmus Group, the main contractor, said the project should be completed by this summer. The blades will produce a soft whirring noise that won’t be audible above background noise at a distance of one hundred feet.

Since climate scientists warn that planet-wide devastation is probably inevitable if major changes in energy production and use aren’t undertaken by 2012, this tiny step could seem inconsequential, but Director of City Plan Karyn Gilvarg took a glass-half-full approach.

“Things can expand logarithmically from here,” she said, mentioning a commercial-scale turbine going up at Phoenix Press as perhaps the first of many of that size that could be built. Asked how hard it was to get that turbine sited, she said, “He’s in an industrial zone, and there’s no height limit in an industrial zone in New Haven. We did do a coastal site plan review, because it’s in a coastal zone, but there were no regulatory barriers to do it. Residential zones have height limits, so before people jump in to do one in their back yard, first they’d better make sure they have wind. And if they do, we’d have to look at working with them on zoning,” to get an exception to the regulations.

Is the day not far off when New Haven will boast a sleeker, more energy efficient version of the ubiquitous windmills that once upon a time powered the Dutch landscape?

Comments

posted by: robn on April 21, 2009 8:49pm

I’d really like to know that when I die, the human race won’t die off shortly thereafter. In that repect my appetitie for curbing global warming is very high.

posted by: ParkStTaxPayer on April 22, 2009 1:39pm

Phoenix Press is leading the way in Connecticut in terms of wind-generated electricity. When companies are installing industrial-scale wind turbines on the shores of the Quinnipiac River, New Haven responds with a tiny turbine only capable of powering one house.

Our breakwaters (three) that protect New Haven Harbor are little more than manmade islands constructed of rock and concrete debris. Top those with short industrial-scale turbines to produce clean energy (no byproducts for us to breathe) for the City of New Haven (and part of East Haven)!

Tiny, exploratory steps are just fine and dandy, but when Denmark as a COUNTRY gets 20% of their energy from wind, I just have to say, the time for “TESTING” is over! Now we just have to fund these projects (privately, or through public funds such as those that go to subsidize the oil, gas, coal, and power industries) and get them built!

When I drive through Windsor, past Kaman Aerospace, Pepperidge Farm, and Home Goods Distribution Center, I can’t help but think about that area as being perfect for wind; flat farmland-turned industrial, with the flags on the flagpoles literally torn from the wind.

Small demonstrations such as this wind turbine in a very public place such as along Long Wharf is great for generating interest in the community; but I think it’s time for more action… instead of waiting for the NEXT 50% utility price hike!

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