Kind of like his, allowing child predators to roam free in good 'ole Massachusettes. My husband says, "No telling how many of his relatives he's helping out by doing that". The man's got such a communist agenda it's pathetic...
Hull Wind: A Renewable Energy "Cash Cow" By Jim Motavalli
excerpted John MacLeod, operations manager of Hull, Massachusetts' Municipal Light Plant, stands inside the tower of Hull Wind I, a Danish-made 660-kilowatt Vestas turbine that has the distinction of being the first commercial-scale windmill to go online anywhere on the U.S.'s eastern coastline.
A digital readout offers the speed of the 154-foot-diameter rotor (28.7 revolutions for minute) and the turbine's generated power since it was installed in December of 2001: 5,052,741 kilowatt hours. That's in excess of five million kilowatts, more than enough reason for Hull to hold a celebration honoring the turbine. The town is so pleased with its wind power generation that it's adding a second, much bigger unit.
MacLeod gestures out past Windmill Point across the bay, with the city of Boston visible in the distance. "We intend to have 100 percent renewably generated power in Hull," he said. "Our next step is the installation of a 1.8-megawatt turbine at the town landfill, which we hope to have up and running by the end of the summer. Then, by 2008, we want to install four offshore turbines totaling 12 megawatts."
There are 40 towns in Massachusetts that have municipally owned electric utilities, a situation that is ideal for public wind power. Towns like Hull can generate a kilowatt of electricity for 3.4 cents, but because of production tax credits and tradable renewable energy certificates (RECs), it takes in 6.3 cents. "It's a cash cow," MacLeod said. The electricity generated goes straight into the town's own grid, replacing power that would cost eight cents per kilowatt hour if it were purchased in the energy market. "We get the financial benefit, plus because it's a green source of energy the turbine becomes a focus of goodwill for the town," says Hull selectwoman Joan Meschino. Everyone in town will tell you that the wind turbine has not killed a single bird, at least according to the regular checks by the town's science students. Neighbors are supportive, too, and you can hardly hear the turbine even when you're standing right under it.