Which Way is the Wind Blowing?

The winds of change seem to be blowing against wind farms in NH. While there are three wind farms operating in the Granite State, a proposal by Eolian Energy to construct a 10-turbine project in Antrim was rejected by the state's Site Evaluation Committee (NHSEC) in February.

It is the first time the NHSEC, which is charged with approving sites for energy projects in the state, has rejected a wind farm permit. It stated concerns about the effect on the region's aesthetics.

Two of NH's three commercial wind farms are owned by Iberdrole Renewables, a Spanish company. The 24-megawatt Lempster wind farm was the first, opening in 2008. Four years later, a 48-megawatt wind farm in Groton came on line. Lempster has 12 wind turbines along a five-mile stretch of Lempster Mountain while Groton has 24 turbines on Tenney Ridge and Fletcher Mountain.

Iberdrole estimates its two plants will generate enough electricity to supply 30,000 homes. It has long-term agreements to sell the power: Groton to NSTAR and Lempster to Public Service of NH. PSNH will resell 10 percent of Lempster's output to the New England Electric Cooperative.

The wind farms together employed more than 450 workers during their construction phase. Now in operation, they employ eight full-time workers.

Iberdrole and the town of Lempster reached a five-year agreement on valuation and the company says it has paid more than $2.7 million in local property taxes. In Groton, administrative assistant Pamela Hamel says the full impact is not yet known since the wind farm just began operation in December.

But she says the town has already benefited from $236,000 it received from the wind farm's land use change tax and $100,000 in payments during construction. This year the town will receive $528,000 from a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement it negotiated. That payment will increase 2.5 percent annually.

Iberdrole project manager Ed Cherian says the company will annually pay landowners $135,000 in Lempster and $275,000 in Groton for use of their land. The two wind farms also pay $750,000 a year in state utility taxes.

Lori Lerner, president of NH Wind Watch, calls the economic benefits of the projects questionable and says they do not offset the adverse effects on the environment and real estate values. She says the wind turbines are noisy and carry potential health risks, and  people don't want to live next to them. She argues the wind farms destroy the view in an area where tourism is an economic driver. Furthermore, Lerner says the wind power is intermittent and expensive.

At a 2011 presentation sponsored by NH Wind Watch, Benjamin Luce, a professor at Lyndon State College in Vermont, said wind power contributed less than one percent to the New England Power Pool. He said wind power in the eastern part of the country does not have the potential to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Cherian says that while wind plants are only a small part of the energy mix, they are a local renewable source. And studies show wind farms do not adversely affect property values; in fact some farms become tourist attractions. In Lempster, the company put up a kiosk because of interest in the project. 

Iberdrole isn't the only company finding success with wind power in NH. Brookfield Renewable Energy, based in Canada, operates Granite Reliable Wind Farm, which opened in Coos County in 2011. The 99-megawatt wind farm is the largest in the state with 33 turbines strung along 6.5 miles of ridgeline in the Phillips Brook area.

There are also three more proposed wind projects in NH-two of them in the Lakes Region. Iberdrole is planning an 80-megawatt project called Wild Meadows in Alexandria, Grafton, and Danbury. The Portuguese wind company, EDP Renewables, has a proposal for a 60-megawatt wind farm called Spruce Ridge Wind Farm in Groton, Alexandria, and Hebron.

And a small three turbine wind project has been approved for Jericho Mountain in Berlin that would be built by a subsidiary of the Massachusetts-based, Palmer Management Corporation.

The fate of these pending projects could be determined by a bill, still being considered in the NH House as of press time in March, that would place a moratorium on wind projects in the state.