Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By C. Eugene Emery
Journal staff writer

BARRINGTON - A $2.4 million proposal to build a large wind turbine in town seems poised to topple due to a new consultant's report showing that wind speeds at the site are not as strong as previously believed.

AWS Truewind of Albany, New York, which initially gauged the average wind speed above Brickyard Pond as 13.4 miles per hour now says in its new report that the average speed per year is just under 12 mph.

That may not seem like a big difference, but it's enough to more than double the amount of time required to pay off the cost of the turbine using money saved on electricity.

Company officials were not available to explain why their estimate had changed. Project manager David DeLuca was reported on vacation.

David Baum, chairman of the Committee for Renewable Energy for Barrington (CREB), said this afternoon he had also been unsuccessful in getting answers from AWS Truewind regarding why the annual wind speed estimate is suddenly lower, and other technical issues that now seem to have eroded the economic viability of the project.

Baum said that, based on the original estimate, the turbine would have paid for itself in 8 years. The new estimate, if correct, stretches that time frame to 20 years.

As a result, Baum said he plans to call his committee together to reconsider its recommendation for the turbine on a small peninsula at the pond.

"At this point, because of the uncertainty [the report] puts on the whole situation, we need to back off," he said.

Instead, the committee may need to shift more of its focus on its energy conservation projects, and explore both solar energy and geoheating systems, Baum said.

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