|
Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department Renewable Energy
Project:
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
See full report
here.
|
|
