Clear Sky Presents Its Case

About 90 residents came out to Town Hall last night for a presentation by Clear Sky Energy, LLC, about the possibility of bringing wind turbines to Ashfield.

The half-hour presentation, led by Clear Sky’s President Joe Santolucito, covered the benefits of wind power both to the world at large – a clean, renewable energy source – and to Ashfield in particular. These latter include estimated tax revenues of $200,000 per year, $150,000 in local spending during construction, and five local operation and maintenance jobs once the turbines are running.

According to the presentation, the turbine’s pylons will range between 260 and 330 feet in height. With the vanes, the turbines could be as tall as 440 feet. Other physical details were elicited during the question and answer period that followed the presentation. The pylons would have a circular footprint on the ground about 25 feet in diameter. The access road built to bring equipment and components to the site would be about 30 feet wide and unpaved. After construction was completed, the road would be rehabilitated to be 15 feet wide. Each turbine will generate an average of 700 kilowatts, with a maximum output of two megawatts.

Santolucito could not answer some questions because many details – such as how many turbines will be built and their exact location – depend on the results of further studies. One of the next steps mentioned in the presentation is the erection of a 150-foot meteorological tower to measure wind strength at the site. He did say that Clear Sky foresees erecting between four and ten turbines on Ridge Hill in the vicinity of the power lines. They would use the existing power line right of way to string their own transmission lines to the substation on Baptist Corner Road. A Clear Sky engineer said the configuration of the power substation would determine whether the power generated by the turbines will be used by Ashfield directly or will feed into the grid to be used throughout the northeast.

Many questions were raised about noise generated by the turbines. The presentation cited studies showing that wind turbines don’t present a health risk. Andrew Wells challenged these studies, citing a study of 22 residents near the Mars Hill Wind Farm site in Maine. Clear Sky said that part of the development process would be a sound study at the proposed site, and that Clear Sky would bring in experts to address these concerns in the future.

Roger Howes said he had once stood at the base of a working turbine in Hull, Massachusetts, and was able to carry on a normal conversation.

Near the end of the evening, Clear Sky Project Manager Mark Pappalardo asked for a show of hands of people who might wish to travel to Lempster, New Hampshire, to view a wind farm project similar to the one proposed for Ashfield. When a large number of hands went up, he offered to organize a bus trip so interested citizens can experience the impact of a wind farm for themselves.

Many residents objected to wind turbines on the grounds of noise, environmental impact, and effect on the scenery. Harry Dodson questioned how green wind power really is.

But Mary Snow told a story of Erik Erikson, the developmental psychologist, that she said she hoped participants would take home with them. When asked by a student, “What is the meaning of life,” Erikson replied, “Compared to what?”

David King