Community Snapshot: Eastham
Significant Projects
Wind Turbine Bylaws
The Eastham Planning Board and Board of Selectmen are proposing two new bylaws to regulate the installation of
wind energy facilities in the town. The proposed bylaws deal with both private and commercial wind turbine installations.
"Wind Facilities" would be allowed in any zoning district subject to a special permit. The bylaw regulates
privately owned wind facilities and would restrict them to a height of 75 feet or 100 feet in District C (Industrial).
It limits noise levels at adjacent property lines to no more than 10 dB over ambient.
"Municipal Wind Facilities" would be allowed only on Town owned land in zoning districts C (Industrial), D
(Retail and Service) and H (Wellhead Protection) subject to a special permit. This bylaw regulates industrial/commercial
wind generators and restricts them to a maximum height of 250 feet and noise limits at adjacent property lines
of no more than 10 dB over ambient.
There will be a public hearing on these proposals on February 18, 2009 in the Eastham Town Hall.
The history behind these changes is described below.
Energy Decision Makers
The town's website is available here.
Eastham is in the process of forming a town Alternative/Green Energy Committee that is chartered to assist the town
in becoming a “Green Community.” This replaces an older town Energy Committee.
Committee Members
|
NAME
|
TERM EXPIRES
|
ROLE
|
|
Don Anderson
|
2011
|
Member
|
|
Joseph Bianchi
|
2010
|
Member
|
|
Fred Fenlon
|
2011
|
Vice-Chair
|
|
Jack Kitson
|
2009
|
Chair
|
|
George Krouch
|
2009
|
Member
|
|
Daniel Schwebach
|
2009
|
Member
|
|
John Sherff
|
2010
|
Member
|
The committee is charged with developing a policy that will be a Climate Protection Action Plan for the town
and will include measurable targets for emission reductions, including recommendations for town vehicle use,
building energy use alternatives, and municipal fuel consumption.
Energy Consumption
NStar provides power delivery services to all Eastham electricity consumers. The table and charts below depict
electricity consumption in (in kWh) in Eastham from 2003 to 2007 and show the types of usage. The information is provided
courtesy of NSTAR.
|
Year |
2003
|
2004
|
2005
|
2006
|
2007
|
|
Residential |
32,881,379 |
32,711,987
|
32,674,234
|
30,788,440
|
31,695,959
|
|
Commercial / Industrial |
10,945,271
|
11,152,267
|
11,237,386
|
10,501,179
|
10,996,225
|
|
Street Lighting |
118,174 |
93,839
|
88,822
|
85,765
|
95,003
|
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Energy Efficiency
The Cape Light Compact (CLC) tracks information on all its energy efficiency programs on a town-by-town basis. For
Eastham, the Cape Light Compact efficiency report
shows an annual kWh savings of 360,074 kWh in 2008 as a result of the various CLC energy efficiency programs.
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The production data below is based on information from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC)
collected in support of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). RECs are tradable environmental commodities in
the United States and represent proof that a specified amount of electricity was generated from an eligible
renewable energy resource. Photovoltaic and wind energy producers that do not participate in the RECs program
are not represented in the data. The information is valid as of the end of 2007.
 Solar PV
The charts below show a growing amount of photovoltaic energy being produced within Eastham from an increasing
number of sites.
Click here to review photovoltaic energy production for all towns on
the Cape & Islands.
As part of the Cape Light Compact's
"Solarize
our Schools!" campaign, a 2kW solar photovoltaic (PV) systems was installed at the Eastham Elementary school.
The solar panel at the school shows the daily, weekly, and monthly
solar panel performance.
Solar Panels at the Aquaculture Technology & Training Center
Special water heating solar panels are
installed to warm seawater and a series of photovoltaic panels provide some electric power for the Aquaculture Technology & Training Center.
The Eastham Aquaculture Technology & Training Center provides the Department of Natural Resources
with a complete recirculating seawater system, an algae culture production center and a laboratory/classroom
for lecture and discussion. Solar energy is a component of the design strategy and allows cultivation methods
to begin early in the spring season with a minimum of energy costs.
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 Wind
At the end of 2007, Eastham had no net metered wind energy production.
The Town of Eastham and the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (RERL) installed a MET tower in July 2003 to
monitor local wind resources for a period of one year under a grant administered by the Massachusetts
Technology Collaborative MTL). The
final report indicates there was a mean wind speed of 10.49 MPH at 39 meters.
The Town of Eastham explored development options for a potential four-turbine wind project on municipally owned
land in North Eastham. After voting to approve the use of municipal lands for this purpose, the Town proceeded
to explore project technical and economic feasibility with assistance from
Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. The Town
was also offered development support award for the project from the MTC.
The complete set of feasibility documents for the project, including an
acoustic assessment and a
bird impact assessment are available
here..
In March 2007, both the Eastham Energy Committee and a group of abutters hostile to a Municipal Wind Turbines
at a proposed North Eastham site separately put forward competing bylaws regulating wind turbines.
An ad hoc wind turbine committee was formed by the selectmen in May 2007, and the two proposed wind turbine
zoning bylaw amendments were withdrawn from town meeting consideration. The selectmen, charged the committee
to look at the two withdrawn bylaw amendments, and come up with an acceptable compromise amendment The
committee included two members of the planning board, two members of the former energy committee, and two members
of the group of abutters opposed to the energy committee’s plan for turbines in their neighborhood.
The ad hoc wind turbine committee presented the selectmen with its final report, including a new proposed zoning
bylaw amendment.
The ad hoc wind turbine committee's proposed amendment would limit the size of any commercial turbine to no
higher than 400 feet from the existing grade of the land, and would required that it be setback a minimum of
three times the blade tip height or 1,000 feet, whichever is greater, from the nearest residential property
line.
It would also require a special permit, and preparation of a noise study, and the hiring if a consultant to
present the proposal to the town.
The major sticking point with the selectmen in the ad hoc committee's proposed bylaw was a requirement that
towers not be located any closer to private property than 1,000 feet or three times the height measured from
the ground to blade tip, whichever is larger. That meant nearly a 1200 foot setback for the proposed Vesta-V80's.
The selectmen said those restrictions would require over 90 acres of municipal land for an industrial-sized
turbine, and reduced the setback requirements in a proposed revision. They also preferred less restrictive
noise impacts of 10dB for the 5dB in the ad hoc committee's proposed bylaw. After failing to fashion
a compromise version of a proposed wind turbine by-law, the Town decided to no longer pursue the wind project.
In 2009, newly proposed bylaws to enable wind turbines for both private and commercial use are being discussed
at a public hearing on 18 February. The proposal limits private wind turbines to 75 feet in most districts
and 100 feet in residential districts. That effectively eliminates commercial wind turbines. It explicitly
provides for municipal wind turbines, but restricts them to 250 feet in height, which is considerably less
than the original proposal of 400 feet, and precludes the use of the originally proposed Vespas-V80, which
have a height of 387 feet. The setback requirements for a 250 foot tower would be 150% of the height, or a
maximum of 375 feet.
It is not clear whether a facility operated by the Cape & Vineyard Electrical Cooperative on behalf of either the town or the Nauset Regional
High School would be considered as a Municipal Wind Facility, and allowed under this bylaw.
The opponents of the original proposal still appear to be dissatisfied with the new bylaws.
The impact on property values and noise have been cited by opponents on various occasions. The town received
an e-mail from David Beck, the assistant
assessor in the town of Hull, stating Hull's experience with wind turbines.
Nauset Regional High School Wind Turbine Project
The Nauset Regional High School is also studying the feasibility of a wind turbine at the school.
Nauset Regional High School applied for a grant from Massachusetts Technology Council to study the feasibility
of putting up a turbine. The school received a $50,000 grant for the feasibility study, which showed the idea
to be feasible, and then it applied for and received a grant of $400,000 from MTC for design and construction
of a wind turbine.
The school would use about 36% of the electricity generated by the 900 kilowatt turbine, and would be able
to sell the remainder. The district, under the state’s new energy bill, would be able to sell the extra electricity
it generates at the retail rate of 16 cents per kilowatt hour, as opposed to the old wholesale rate of 6 cents.
The size, height and number of turbines being considered in this project, has not been determined. The
High School is also considering joining the Cape
& Vineyard Electrical Cooperative and having the Coop develop their wind turbine project.
Click here to review wind energy production for all towns on the Cape
& Islands.
For an overview of wind energy on the Cape & Islands, click here.
For more information on wind projects in other communities, click
here.
For the status of community wind projects in other towns, click here.
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This page was last updated Tuesday March 31, 2009
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