Wind Power Advances

A 60 to 100-foot tall wind turbine may soon be rising on this site at Long Wharf — or else across town at the dump..

The proposal to inaugurate wind-driven electricity in New Haven didn’t exactly blow through the City Plan Commission meeting Wednesday night. While it did receive a vote of approval, there was less than unanimity on the best location for the turbines, as commissioners debated where the wind blows best in our fair city.

The commissioners were being asked to give their blessing to aldermanic acceptance of two wind turbines to be installed in the city as part of the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF)‘s pilot project. Click here to read a previous story with details of the project. If successful, the turbines are expected to generate $5,000 worth of electricity. After a year the turbines’ ownership would then be transferred to the city.

Giovanni Zinn of the City Plan staff, who is shepherding the project through the approvals process, said he had toured the city with CCEF staff/ Jr reported that they are leaning toward sites at either the Amistad/Quinnipiak Schooner building and the Info New Haven, or possibly the Sound School.

However, City Engineer Richard Miller had another suggestion. ​“Whenever I’ve thought about this technology for New Haven,” he said, ​“I’ve thought the best location would be the city landfill [on Middletown Avenue]. It’s high up there, and the elevation gives a 360-degree exposure.”

Miller said he had just returned from Ireland where wind turbines are frequently seen, in settings as he’d described, ​“and they provide a lot of that country’s electricity.”

Miller added that another advantage at the old landfill is that the turbines could be easily anchored, whereas at Long Wharf, some kind of concrete base or pad would have to be constructed.

Zinn politely differed. ​“If you check out what’s called the New England Wind Map, you’ll see that the wind is better by Long Wharf. East Rock has an effect on a site like the old landfill. The area around Long Wharf is more promising because we’re concerned not just with the speed of the wind but the flow. It’s a beginning technology, that’s why it’s a pilot.”

The project, he suggested, came not only with two turbines mounted on tall ​“monopoles,” but also with wind measuring equipment.

Former East Rock Alderman Ed Mattison, who debuted this night in his new role as an alternate on the City Plan Commission, said that in his experience the history of wind turbines often comes with not-in-my-backyard problems.

Zinn countered by saying that’s why Long Wharf was promising. ​“People are not going to get out of their cars on the highway and come and complain to this body.”

Commissioners Roland Lemar (on the right in photo, with Mattison) and Maricel Ramos-Valcarel both queried Zinn about maintenance costs as well as issues such as graffiti removal. Zinn said that the maintenance is virtually cost-free. But issues such as graffiti, yes, all fall to the city after the first year; that’s part of the pilot responsibility.

“Well,” said Lemar, ​“we’d ask you to come back to us with some figure on maintenance, because if we’re in a budget cycle we can’t suddenly find out that these turbines are going to cost us $200,000.”

Joy Ford, the City Plan Commission coordinator, was at pains to inform the commissioners that a regulatory adventure lies ahead: ​“We currently have nothing in the zoning ordinances with regard to wind turbines.”

Still, the consensus was that this was an exciting project, and one that, at least for now, was cost and risk-free. The measure passed unanimously with the stipulations Lemar had asked to be attached. The Board of Aldermen have the final decision as to the locations for the turbines and their towers. If, however, they are planted at Long Wharf, that would trigger a formal coastal site plan review back at the commission.

Stay tuned.