Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles recently recognized Cape Cod for being the region of the commonwealth that has most embraced wind power to meet its energy needs. Cape Cod currently has more wind turbines installed than any other area of Massachusetts.
Bowles noted that, of the 21 wind turbines installed statewide, six are on the Cape – providing 28% of the commonwealth's installed wind power. Another two wind turbines are due to be up and running on the Cape this year, and nine more are proposed for operation in 2011 and 2012.
Falmouth's 1.65 MW Vestas V-82, the commonwealth's first utility-scale municipal wind turbine, powers the town's wastewater treatment plant. The town plans to install a second 1.65 MW turbine at the wastewater treatment facility this year.
Other Cape and Island turbines are installed at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Bourne; the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment (AFCEE) at the Massachusetts Military Reservation in Bourne; Hyannis Country Garden in Hyannis; Bartlett's Ocean View Farm in Nantucket; and Woods Hole Research Center in Woods Hole. In addition to the second Falmouth municipal turbine, NOTUS Clean Energy in Falmouth also plans to install a turbine this year.
Proposed for 2011 and 2012 are two more turbines at AFCEE in Bourne, two at Cape & Vineyard Electric Cooperative in Brewster, two at Cape & Vineyard Electric Cooperative in Harwich, two at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Falmouth and one at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School in Bourne. All these installations will bring the Cape's total wind energy generating capacity to about 20.5 MW.
SOURCE: Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs  Â
