Wind farm plans blowing hot and cold
Berlin -- Entrepreneurs seek permit for siting windmills, but some residents oppose idea
By BOB GARDINIER, Staff writer
First published: Tuesday, September 2, 2003
People wanting to put electricity generating windmills near the Taconic Crest Trail between Berlin Mountain and Mount Raimer have asked the town Zoning Board of Appeals for a special-use permit to erect a 164-foot wind testing pole.
The proposed wind farm, on property owned by Williams College, is in the town of Berlin on a site where the college ran a ski area for many years that was abandoned in the early 1980s. Now, only hikers, cross-country skiers and college students doing meteorological field studies visit the windy ridge near the scenic Petersburgh Pass.
A team of recent graduates and professors from Williams College, along with other experts in the field of alternate energy, is looking to break into the wind farm business. Nicholas Hiza, Williams graduate and project manager, said the Berlin site has wind power, especially the area on a ridgeline that makes up the site's western boundary overlooking the rolling hills of eastern Rensselaer County and facing the prevailing west to northwest winds.
Hiza appeared before the board during its August meeting asking to erect a lightweight 8-inch diameter pole that would be 164 feet tall and have wind speed and direction monitoring equipment attached to it about 135 feet off the ground. The pole would not require a concrete base, he told board members.
But the chairman of the board, Don French, said the town will ask the county, state and federal government for their review of the proposal he said has not been enthusiastically embraced by residents of the rural area. French said there are concerns that the proposal to put seven, 180-foot-tall towers with 1.5 megawatt General Electric turbines connected to huge propeller-like blades on the site may not be appropriate for the scenic area.
``We don't think that's the right place for an industrial site,'' French said. ``We will be asking for a state environmental review given the viewshed issues.''
The 35-mile long Taconic Crest Trail reaches its highest elevation at Berlin Mountain, and the ridgeline offers panoramic views of the Catskills, Adirondacks and other mountains in the surrounding states. The slow-turning windmills would likely be visible for many miles.
The Massachusetts entrepreneurs who formed the Berlin Wind Project have said the wind farm could produce enough energy to provide power for 4,000 average American homes, or for about two-thirds of the residents of Williamstown.
The Capital Region currently has no wind farms. One of the closest is in Searsburg, Vt., on Route 9 in the southern part of the state. That wind power plant, operated by Green Mountain Power, is in the Green Mountain National Forest and consists of 11 turbines, each about 200 feet tall, erected in 1998.
Since 1990, wind has been the fastest-growing power source worldwide, with an average annual growth rate of more than 25 percent, according to the American Wind Energy Association and its New York arm, Wind Power New York. In the United States, wind farm sites generate enough electricity to power about 1 million homes, according to the association.
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