Friday, November 6, 2009

Forum on wind turbine project, Dec 2nd

From Dr. DiPippo,

Hi all,
There will be an open forum to discuss the Dartmouth Wind Turbine Project on Wednesday, December 2, 2009 in the Dartmouth Middle School auditorium (next door to Town Hall) on Slocum Road from 7-9 PM.
There will be briefings by the AEC, ADE, DPW, FinCom, ConCom and others who have been working with us. There will be questions from the audience and answers from us. Statements from folks who support the project are also welcome.
Besides giving the residents of the town a full and factual presentation of the details of the project, this forum is also intended to inform the decision to be taken by the Select Board on the application for a Special Permit. We hope that the Select Board will vote on the matter at their next meeting following the Forum.
We plan to post important information from the Final Feasibility Report from ADE on the AEC web page, and place hard copies of the report on reserve at the Southworth Public Library no later than one week prior to the meeting.
Lara Stone and I will be drafting the detailed agenda for the forum ASAP. We will distribute it widely.
I hope that each of you will be able to attend and participate.
Best regards,
Ronald DiPippo, Ph.D.
Chairman, Alternative Energy Committee
Town of Dartmouth


The link to the Alternative Energy Committee web page is here

25 comments:

frank1 said...

First we should review the recent reductions in the NSTAR rates.

Second we should review the letter sent to the state from the AEC

Third are these turbines economically feasible ?

http://www.env.state.ma.us/dpu/docs/electric/09-71/10509drthcom.pdf


Ronald DiPippo, Ph.D.
RENEWABLE ENERGY CONSULTANT --GEOTHERMAL& WIND SPECIALIST

Ronald DiPippo, Ph.D.
Chairman, Dartmouth Alternative Energy Committee

Anonymous said...

you going to go frank? or just complain here some more?

frank1 said...

I will be at this meeting .I'm not afraid to ask questions .The purpose of these posts are to get a 50/50 view of what's going . Lets hope the residents around the wind turbines show up and bring up statements made to the s-t. How do you put a commercial wind turbine on a timer for shadow flicker etc?
The urls are next :

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090902/PUB02/909020417

September 02, 2009 12:00 AM

"If it's a problem of flicker, we can just turn it off" two hours a day, Mr. Race suggested to concerned neighbors. Timers could be easily programmed to protect neighbors an hour or two per day, he said, and "I have no problem with that."


"Chairman Dr. Ronald DiPippo felt the same way as Race. "I don't want to impose an impact on anybody living near this turbine; I've said that from the beginning," the chairman said. "If it's a problem for even one or two houses, we'll just shut the bloody thing off," the retired physicist told neighbors at the meeting Wednesday night"


http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090929/NEWS/909290344


September 29, 2009 12:00 AM

"Homeowners in the area of the Chase Road site said they are concerned about noise, a flicker effect caused by the blades of the turbines, their sleep being disturbed and a possible drop in valuations of their homes.

Anonymous said...

Frank1, do you have any, like, actual arguments? Taking a couple of sentences from a news article, a proposed regulation that goes against what the Governor wants and will never be adopted are not real concerns. There are hundreds of these turbines being installed around the world every month. Let me guess, all misguided. Do you own an oil company?

Anonymous said...

I bet Frank lives near the site of the turbine construction, which is the only reason people oppose this project.

frank1 said...

How far will a one and one half ton blade 180 feet long fall from 280 feet high?

The Altona, New York wind turbine collapse is an example of how the country has arrived at a point in its culture where no negative consequences exist for making false claims to sell wind energy. Quote."Several Altona residents flew over the wreckage Saturday morning and were amazed to see that pieces of the structure appeared to have been thrown," “about a quarter-mile away."

In addition , the Massachusetts net metering formulas combined with industrial wind is a card game. The residents who value intellectual honesty should review the debacle that took place right here on the SouthCoast with the residential wind turbines.

Anonymous said...

Frank how close do you live to the project?

Anonymous said...

frank the debacle on the residential wind projects here on the southcoast were because of gross incompetance and fraud nothing else.

frank1 said...

It's my understanding one of the members of the AEC got ripped off buying one or two residential wind turbines and still thinks they are are a great idea !

Anonymous said...

Question Frank1,

what happens when the oil and coal run out? the two fuels are in finite amounts on our planet. A doing alittle reading(greenerideal.com) debris in Altona was thrown 345 feet from the base NOT 1/4 mile (1320 feet)after experiencing a "anomoly" which made it spin faster than designs called for.

frank1 said...

Most commercial wind turbine terms are released using the metric system!

"When a turbine's brake fails, the turbine can spin freely until it disintegrates or catches fire. Freely spinning blades may also hit the tower, causing collapse, as occurred on March 6, 2009, in Altona, New York.[Turbine blades may fail spontaneously due to manufacturing flaws. Lightning strikes are a common problem, also causing rotor blade damage and fires.[ When ejected, pieces of broken blade and ice can be thrown hundreds of metres away. Although no member of the public has been killed by a malfunctioning turbine, there have been close calls, including injury by falling ice. Large pieces of debris, up to several tons, have dropped in populated areas, residential properties, and roads, damaging cars and homes."



One meter is a little longer than a yard ,three feet. Hundreds of meters is the equivalent of 1/4 mile



. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_effects_of_wind_power

Anonymous said...

You stated the distance in altona was a 1/4 mile when in fact it was 345 ft, 1/4 the distance! how does "Most commercial wind turbine terms are released using the metric system! " so the people in altona were wrong who measured the distance the blade was thrown. the tape measure they used was wrong but your right? someone should tell them to measure in meters instead of feet if this ever happens again.

frank1 said...

No one needs to get hostile over a political blog! All I'm saying is that last year the Town of Dartmouth was unscrewing street light bulbs, selling orange trash bags, closing libraries, shutting school room space and refusing to give teachers pay increases.

Almost one year to the day later the Town of Dartmouth is in the process of buying nine million dollars worth of commercial wind turbines subsidized by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.

You have got to wonder if the residents of Dartmouth are paying attention? You don't need a Ph.D. to figure this formula out!

Anonymous said...

Weak frank , real weak

frank1 said...

http://cleantechnica.com/2009/03/12/officials-looking-for-answers-after-wind-turbine-collapse/



Officials Looking for Answers After Wind Turbine Collapse
Written by Dave Tyler
Published on March 12th, 2009

New York State’s Public Service Commission investigators are trying to figure out why a wind turbine collapsed last week in upstate Clinton County.

The Albany Times Union reports that Noble Environmental Power, which owns the 65-turbine Altona Wind Park, and turbine maker General Electric Co. found “wiring anomalies” prevented two turbines from shutting down as they are supposed to during a power outage. One tower collapsed in a fiery heap, starting a small fire on the ground. The other was damaged but remained standing. Debris was scattered as far as a quarter-mile away, the paper reported. WPTZ has video with images of the collapsed turbine.

There were no reported injuries. The incident is believed to be the first collapse of a turbine in New York. The PSC would like G.E. and Noble to share information from their investigation with the agency.


The 97.5 megawatt wind park provides enough energy to power to about 32,500 homes. In a statement, Noble said it is restarting the park gradually it and G.E. determine there are no more anomalies in the turbines. Noble said its own investigation could take months to complete. It did not give a time table for restoring the turbines to service, or provide a reason for the power outage at the site.

Anonymous said...

Guess what Frank1 - oil tankers leak and sometimes sink, electric transformers explode, nuclear plants can melt down, hydro dams can burst and flood and yup a turbine can fail. Next point?

Anonymous said...

http://www.wptz.com/news/19128546/detail.html

ALTONA, N.Y. -- On the morning of March 6, 2009, the Noble Altona Windpark experienced a loss of power; in response, sixty three (63) of the sixty five (65) Noble Altona Windpark turbines shut down as expected. Turbine 42 and Turbine 59 of the Noble Altona Windpark did not respond to the power outage by shutting down immediately.

Company Explains Cause Of Turbine Collapse

GE wind turbines are equipped with a pitch control system that shuts down the turbine when a loss of power occurs. Without this pitch control system, the wind turbine will spin faster than its design allows.

GE's inspection of the pitch control system in Turbine 59 revealed a wiring anomaly that resulted in the pitch control system not responding correctly, thus impacting the turbine's ability to shut down as designed. Turbine 59 was damaged, but did not collapse. Data from Turbine 42 indicates that it experienced the same wiring anomaly which resulted in Turbine 42 failing to shut down properly and ultimately led to its collapse.

Noble believes that the combination of power loss and the wiring anomaly were to blame for last week's incident, in which nobody was injured.

Noble CEO Walt Howard visited the site the day of the incident, noting, "Noble values the safety of its employees and neighbors above all else. Noble has committed its full resources to understanding the cause of this incident. We will keep you informed as we learn more information."

Immediately following the incident, Noble Environmental Power secured the site and shut down the entire Noble Altona Windpark. That day, Noble also teamed up with General Electric (GE), the manufacturer of the 1.5 megawatt turbines. Engineers from GE's global service, operations, manufacturing and engineering organizations are working to find and examine the root cause of the incident and are methodically testing other turbines in Noble's fleet. Upon GE's notification of the successful completion of the tests, the previously shut down turbines are being returned to service.

Noble has determined that the farthest piece of debris from collapsed Turbine 42, which has been identified as a piece of fiberglass, landed 345 feet from its base. This distance is well within the 1,200 foot setback from the nearest off-site residence, as required per the Town of Altona's Wind Law. This law also states that wind energy facilities must be located 500 feet from the nearest public road; the debris landed within this setback."

Still wind farm neighbors seem unwavering in their support.

"It shouldn't discourage them at all," said Marie Gennett. "They should repair this or put a new one up. We thoroughly need this for our future."

"I don't think it's too big of a deal right now, said Steve Stanley. "They should look at it, and if they find nothing leave it alone. But if it happens again they've got to do something about it."

Hows that oil stock Frank?

Anonymous said...

Frank1, at what point do you stop chantting drill,baby ,drill

Ray Medeiros,Jr said...

The Town of Dartmouth is going to OWN a power plant. We generate our own power for our own use.

frank1 said...

A building was marred and a wood chipper machine was damaged beyond repair in a fire at the wastewater treatment plant at 759 Russell's Mills Road on Tuesday. Damage to the building and the machine is in excess of $200,000.

What happens when you have nine million dollars worth of turbines? This accident should be brought to the attention of all the residents of Dartmouth that accidents do, will and have happened at the wastewater treatment plant. How would the Dartmouth Fire dept. put out a fire in a commercial turbine fire like the one in Altona, NY. ---- See you Dec 2 need answers!

Anonymous said...

go back to my nov 9 8:39 answer frank1.

Anonymous said...

So frank1 - you're using the classic 'Chicken Little' argument as your reasoning behind not wanting turbines?

Gotta love that one frank1.

Anonymous said...

Hey Frank1 The mayan calander says the end of the world is 2012 so why bother with turbine's right? Since we're all DOOMED. If a turbine blade falls 345 feet for the mount and Frank keeps claiming 1/4 mile , what is the level of exaggeration frank is using?
1. 1:1
2. 4:1
3. 8:1
4. doesnt matter Franks never wrong.

Answer B AND D

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:11 that was funny.

Frank1, what I believe people are trying to tell you is shi_ happens, it happens to everyone. you cant go around being afraid of everything and cowering to fear. Its like all those horror stories on 20/20 or dateline designed to scare you into never going anywhere or doing anything only to find out that kills you sooner? you cant win!. Nstar rate reductions or an isolated turbine collaspse in new york state arent going to change anyone's mind.

Anonymous said...

Frank... again-how close are you to the proposed site of the turbines? My guess is that's why you are such in opposition.