On April 20,
2011, a public meeting was held at the Plymouth County Sheriff’s
Department on the proposed wind turbine project. Attendees included
interested residents, members of the Town of Plymouth Energy Committee,
along with representatives from the Commonwealth’s Division
of Capital Asset Management, Architectural Engineers and Weston
& Sampson.
On this webpage
you may download a project fact sheet, a presentation by engineers
Weston & Sampson or watch it on video in four segments.
If you prefer,
you may also watch highlights of the hearing on the Sheriff’s
YouTube Channel: YouTube.com/PCSDPIO
PART
1: Weston & Sampson Project Manager Stephen Wiehe
provides background on the ongoing wind project. This includes
the turbine’s proposed location, size and height, and assessment
of wind resources.
PART
2: Weston & Sampson Project Manager Stephen Wiehe
discusses the minimal sound impact a wind turbine would have on
our neighbors.
PART
3: Weston & Sampson Project Manager Stephen Wiehe
shows how the landscape would change with the installation of
a turbine. This segment includes photo simulations depicting how
the turbine will look from various locations.
PART
4: Weston & Sampson Project Manager Stephen Wiehe
lists the agencies consulted in this project to date as well as
the estimated energy production.
PUBLIC
MEETING ON PROPOSED WIND TURBINE
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 6-8pm
PLYMOUTH—
On Wednesday, April 20, 2011, the Plymouth County Sheriff’s
Department (PCSD) and state officials will hold a public meeting
on the proposed wind turbine for PCSD property.
The project, first announced to the public in 2006 and intended
to defray the costs of powering the Plymouth County Correctional
Facility, is reaching the bid stage. The proposed wind turbine
locus is a triangular wooded parcel, adjacent to the Plymouth
County Correctional Facility’s southeast corner. The site
would be bounded by the jail’s outer perimeter fence, Route
3, and an industrial and municipal area off Camelot Drive.
All interested parties are encouraged to attend the meeting to
be held at the Sheriff’s Department, 24 Long Pond Road,
Plymouth from 6-8pm in the Administration Building’s Amphitheatre.
Parking is available.
The Commonwealth’s Division of Capital Asset Management
(DCAM) is leading the project with funding and technical expertise.
The project’s engineering firm, Weston & Sampson will
make a presentation at the April 20th meeting, followed by public
comment.
The
annual estimated savings of the project is $723,209. This includes
avoided cost, net metering credits and renewable energy credits.
Written comments may also be submitted to the address below or
by email to webmaster@pcsdma.org. Following the April 20th meeting,
video excerpts of the meeting will be available for viewing online
www.pcsdma.org.
Public Information/Turbine
24 Long Pond Road
Plymouth, MA 02360
Plymouth
County Sheriff’s Department Renewable Energy Project:
The anemometer went up on May 2007 and came down in
May 2008 after a year of testing. The final quarterly report
is still being prepared by state officials.
The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department is exploring
the idea of erecting a wind turbine at the Plymouth County
Correctional Facility. The goal is to take a bite out of the
Department’s one million dollar annual electricity bill.
Wind data testing wrapped up in May 2008.
Here's a snapshot at the data collected so far:
Quarter*
Wind
Speed
Wind
Direction
%
Valid Data
1st
11.2
MPH
South
Southwest
99%
2nd
12.6
Southwest
88%
3rd
13.8
West
96%
4th
WAITING
ON REPORT
Quarter*
1st
June-August
2007
2nd
September-November
2007
3rd
December
2007-February 2008
4th
March-May
2008
In October
of 2005 the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department staff was
directed by Sheriff McDonald to conduct a feasibility study on
utilizing renewable energy at the Plymouth County Correctional
facility in an effort to reduce energy costs at the facility.
Staff first
considered solar panel technology. The plan called for solar energy
panels to be located on the roof of the Plymouth County Correctional
Facility supplying power to the facility. After several meeting
with industry experts and considering the capital cost of the
energy project, it was determined, by the staff, not to recommend
the department move forward with solar panel technology at this
time. The staff will continue to monitor this technology as it
improves.
The staff
then considered wind power technology. After several meetings
with representatives of the Commonwealth’s Division of Energy
Resources, energy consultants and a site visit by representatives
of the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory of the University
of Massachusetts, we are pleased to report that wind power at
the Plymouth County Correctional Facility is possible. We are
preparing to move forward with the final test before recommending
the installation of a Wind Turbine to be located beside the correctional
facility.
The final
test consists of installing a free standing 50 – meter,
temporary, MET tower (meteorological tower) with an anemometer
installed on the tower. The tower will be installed at the Plymouth
County Sheriff’s Department Farm. The farm was selected
as the test site because there is ample room for the support tower
guide wires and it is in close proximity to the selected wind
turbine site. The data produced by the MET tower will be collected
and analyzed. The testing project will take approximately 1 year.
The Plymouth
County Sheriff’s Department, working with Josh Bagnato,
Director of Renewable Energy for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
has secured a $40,000.00 grant from the Massachusetts Technology
Collaborative Renewable Energy Trust Fund.
The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department was notified on
November 29, 2006 of the award. This amount represents 100% of
the cost of the MET tower testing program.
Please find
attached the Report by the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory
and the
Feasibility Grant Application
On
September 1, 2009, the Massachusetts Executive Office of
Energy and Environmental Affairs announced the Patrick Administration
will be putting the Sheriff’s wind project to bid
in the fall of 2009. It’s part of a larger project
to add up to 6.5 megawatts to Commonwealth’s wind
power capacity, saving state agencies as much as $2.1 million
in energy costs annually.
Patrick
Administration Seeks Bids to Install Wind Turbines at North
Central Correctional Institution and Mt. Wachusett Community
College
“Siting
wind turbines on the grounds of state facilities is also
in line Governor Patrick’s Leading by Example Executive
Order of 2007, which requires state agencies to procure
15 percent of their annual electricity consumption from
renewable sources by 2012 and 30 percent by 2020.
“The
Commonwealth is making good progress toward this mandate,”
DOER Commissioner Phil Giudice said. “In addition
to the projects put out to bid today, the administration
expects to solicit bids for another 1.65 megawatt turbine
at the Plymouth County Sheriff’s department and correctional
facility this fall.”
