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Wind Energy

This windy shot was taken at Barnstable-West Barnstable (BWB) Elementary School. A wind turbine proposed for installation at Cape Cod Community College would be visible from BWB and other local viewpoints.

Photo Source: Charlie Powicki

A whipping flag, a soaring kite, and a full sail are evidence of the abundance of wind in the Cape & Islands region. The wind energy resource here is among the best in the United States, and it is orders of magnitude greater than regional demand for electricity. This gives Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket a unique opportunity to improve economic, environmental, and social conditions while achieving a measure of energy independence.

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Facts on Wind Energy & Sustainable Development
For more information on local wind energy development issues, visit this website's Wind Energy and Community Wind pages.

Wind energy resources are vast, inexhaustible, and widely available. Through appropriate turbine siting, design, construction, operations, maintenance, and decommissioning practices, wind resources can be harnessed in ways that stimulate local economic development and enhance local environmental quality while minimizing adverse local impacts.

Wind power is the world’s fastest growing source of energy because of its economic and environmental characteristics—it is already competitive with conventional options for generating electricity, and it produces green electrons without creating pollution or greenhouse gases.

Some areas rely on wind turbines to meet a significant percentage of their demands for electricity—they supply 50% of the power in the Navarra region of northern Spain, about 20% in Denmark, and about 6% in Germany.

In the United States, wind energy supplies less than 0.5% of overall U.S. needs for electric power. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, total wind capacity is projected to increase by a factor of five between 2002 and 2025.

Major expansions in U.S. wind capacity could create national security benefits by reducing reliance on foreign sources of oil and natural gas.

Because the wind blows intermittently, wind turbines alone can only meet a portion of a consumer’s, community’s, or region’s needs for electricity.

Wind is sometimes referred to as a fuel-saving supply option: Every wind-powered megawatt-hour means that another megawatt-hour is not being produced by a dirtier electricity generating technology. This reduces the level of emissions imposed on communities downwind from where the dirtier technology is sited.

Homeowners, businesses, communities, and other electricity consumers that install wind systems can reduce their electricity bills.

In Massachusetts, the first modern, commercial-scale turbine began generating green electrons in the coastal town of Hull in 2001. Because this 660-kW turbine is owned by the Hull Municipal Light Plant, every megawatt-hour it generates offsets the need for this municipal utility to purchase power from the wholesale marketplace in New England.

In its first 2 years of operation, Hull Wind I produced about 3,100 MWh and saved the town and local consumers hundreds of thousands of dollars on electricity bills. On an annually averaged basis, this single unit meets almost 3% of the total power needs of the community. Local residents have authorized plans to add more wind capacity. Hull Wind II is scheduled to begin operations in 2006.

Land-based wind installations are being considered by communities and private developers throughout the Cape & Islands region, and the world’s largest offshore wind facility has been proposed for Nantucket Sound.

Single commercial-scale wind turbines and large-scale wind facilities have significant visual impacts as well as extremely localized noise impacts.

Wind facilities do not emit pollutants that harm wildlife, and they do not contribute to climate change, which is expected to alter habitats and lead to species displacements and extinctions. However, they are not environmentally benign.

Wind turbines kill birds. The most obvious problem involves collisions with towers or turbine blades. Wind facilities can also interfere with migratory pathways and fragment habitat—unseen impacts with potentially significant consequences for local populations or rare species.

Wind turbines kill bats. For example, at a 44-turbine installation in West Virginia, researchers collected the carcasses of 475 bats from at least eight different species between April and November 2003; the actual number of bats that died due to turbine collisions is probably many times higher. During the first 2 years of operation of a small wind facility in Tennessee, turbines killed nearly three times as many bats as birds.

The adverse impacts of wind energy on wildlife can be minimized. The best approach is to avoid siting wind facilities in important wildlife habitats.

Historical data on wildlife impacts and current assessment and mitigation practices may not be directly applicable to the modern turbines and large-scale installations being considered in the Cape & Islands region. Assessing which species and how many individuals transit or reside in areas of proposed construction is critical, since the degree of risk depends on both the types and numbers of animals that may be affected.

The effects of offshore wind facilities on birds and on marine animals, such as fish, turtles, and mammals, are not well understood. Experience with other marine structures and activities indicates that adverse impacts on marine wildlife may arise from noise during installation and operation, generation of electromagnetic fields, and fragmentation and/or degradation of habitat.

Visions of Wind Energy & Sustainable Development
See Contributor’s Guide below.

Contributor’s Guide
A taut flag is not the only indicator of wind energy’s economic, environmental, and social potential for local communities. Data, information, art, and photos are sought that address topics such as the ones listed below:

Facts on Wind Energy & Sustainable Development

Local heritage
Wind energy development proposals
Resource potential
National and international wind industry
Your ideas?

Visions of Wind Energy & Sustainable Development

Kites, sails, waves, dunes, and other aeolian images
Imaginary installations—at home, at work, at the beach, in the community, etc.
Wind-powered transportation and heating systems
Fixed costs
Wind-driven economy
Your ideas?

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