Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, University of Massachusetts at Amherst Wind Power On the Community Scale

Community Wind Community Wind Case Study: Hull Power Case Study

RERL—MTC Hull Wind One Community Wind Fact Sheet Series In 2001 Massachusetts’ first modern wind turbine these tend to make siting more difficult at towns was installed in at Windmill Point, at the tip of the such as Hull; others make it easier. In collaboration with the Mas- town of Hull. The turbine is owned and operated by Hull Wind One represents three historic “firsts”: sachusetts Technology Col- the Hull Municipal Light Plant (HMLP), and the laborative’s Renewable En- project was developed by • The first commercial-scale ergy Trust Fund, the Renew- HMLP with assistance of the wind turbine to go online any- What made Hull Wind One able Energy Research Lab University of Massachusetts’ where on the eastern U.S. coast- such a success? (RERL) brings you this series Renewable Energy Research line • Municipal electric utility that of fact sheets about Wind Laboratory and the Massachu- • The first suburban-sited tur- was an active participant in the Power on the community setts Division of Energy Re- bine on the North American con- sources. process scale: tinent, and • Local champions 1. Technology The 660 kW turbine is close to • The first such publicly owned • Good wind resource 2. Performance the high school, within 100 ft of wind turbine to be sited in the Public involvement 3. Impacts & Issues the site of a 40 kW turbine • United States within a short 4. Siting (since removed) which was • Previous experience in wind walking distance of a stop on a installed approximately 20 years mass transit system (a ferry). 5. Resource Assessment • Town realized public benefit before. The town is in a highly This case study briefly discusses 6. Wind Data • Available site populated coastal area, within 8 the history of “Hull Wind One,” 7. Permitting • Technical support miles of (city hall) and 5 as the turbine is now called. It is Case Studies miles of the runways at Bos- condensed from a longer paper ton’s Logan International Airport, so it might at first (Manwell et al., 2003) that more closely examines seem that it would be a difficult location at which to the factors that led to successful realization of the site a wind turbine. In fact, there are many factors project and the manner in which they affected Hull’s that affect the siting of a wind turbine. Some of decision to proceed with its new turbine. Profile of Hull Inside this Edition: A town with a history in wind Hull Case Study The town of Hull, Massachusetts is located on a Hull has a long history of land-based wind energy peninsula in . Its population is use, beginning at least 200 years ago, when wind Hull Wind One p. 1 about 10,500, which in- was used to produce creases to over 16,000 during salt. The site of Hull Town Profile p. 1 the summer vacation season. Wind One was referred Hull’s Advantages p. 1 Electricity is supplied to the to as “Windmill Point” residents by the Hull Munici- as early as the 1820’s. Project History p. 2 pal Light Plant (HMLP), a In the 1980’s, the municipally owned utility. town’s first electricity- Hull’s Wind Machine p. 2 Annual average power con- producing wind ma- Obstacles to Wind En- p. 3 sumption is approximately 6 chine was installed, a ergy Development MW (corresponding to an 40 kW Enertech ma- energy use of approximately chine. Today the town Economics p. 4 53,000 MWh/yr). HMLP continues to look for Public Power p. 4 purchases most of its electric- ways to make the best ity at wholesale from the Massachusetts Munici- out of their windy location, with proposals for more For more information p. 4 pal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC). wind power. Page 2 Community Wind Power Case Study P hoto credit: Doug Welch, Island Alliance. Project History

Siting study: The Massachusetts Division of Energy Re- “turnkey” contract price was $698,699, including a stan- sources (DOER) discussed potential wind power projects dard set of spare parts. This contract included purchase with the Hull Municipal Light Plant (HMLP) in the and installation of the transformer, providing a buried 1980’s and 1990’s. Work on Hull Wind One began in cable, and connection with the HMLP distribution system. earnest in 1998, when the Note that this figure did not UMass RERL, under sponsor- include work done directly by ship from the DOER, carried HMLP, valued at $54,000. The out a detailed technical evalua- total installed cost was ap- tion of possibilities for the proximately $753,000 (not replacement of the old wind including development ser- turbine installed at the High vices supplied by DOER and School. The study (Ellis, RERL). Vendor selection was Rogers, and Manwell, 1999) followed by contract negotia- reviewed the issues related to tions, and by a signed contract the installation of a wind tur- in August, 2001. Hull’s Wind Machine bine at the High School site Construction: Excavation for and identified the potential Hull Wind One, seen from , the foundation began in No- merits and impacts of a num- Manufacturer: Vestas vember, 2001, and by the end ber of different wind turbines. across Hull Gut Model: V47 of November the foundation For this proposal, it was as- concrete was cured. On December 16th the tower was in Rotor Diameter: 47m = 154’ sumed that HMLP would assume responsibility for the place and the rotor was installed. At 2:45 PM on Decem- Hub height: 50m = 164’ operation of the machine. The work (which involved ber 27th the turbine was put online. Power rating: 660 kW extensive interaction with numerous Hull community Rotational speed: 28.5 RPM groups) consisted of the following six major parts: Current status: Hull Wind One, represents the high point of almost 20 years of wind energy activity at Hull’s Wind- • Detailed description of the proposed site mill Point. In its first two years of operation (Dec. 27, • Description of the available wind resource • Description of candidate turbines 2001 - Dec. 26, 2003) it produced about 3,100 MWh, for a • Review of environmental, regulatory, and public capacity factor of 27%. acceptance hurdles • A preliminary economic evaluation Hull Wind One: Daily Energy Production • Discussion and recommendations 18 2002

16 Selection of New Wind Turbine: Following the positive 2003 14 results and recommendations of the study, and after a 12 2004 number of news reports on the subject (Boston Globe, the 10 Patriot Ledger, the Tiny Town Gazette, and the Hull 30-day 8 Moving Avg. MWh/day (2003) Times), HMLP notified the town’s citizens of 6

a public meeting on June 16, 2000 at the High 4 Energy based on School. The meeting included presentations 2 average values from periodic 0 by the town manager, the town historian, and meter readings Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec representatives from the Hull Light Board, Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC), RERL, and the local Many groups of visitors have made special trips to the site group Citizens For Alternative Renewable and media coverage of the installation, and its successes Energy (CARE). This group fielded questions and awards, have been extensive. Awards to HMLP in- from the public and responded to fellow pan- clude: elists. Following the strongly positive results • Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from of this meeting, it was announced that HMLP US Congressman Delahunt, June 2002. The Award would solicit a Request for Proposals (RFP) cites benefits both to the environment and to the com- for the supply and installation of a wind tur- munity. bine. At the same time, HMLP announced its • EPA Environmental Merit Award, 2002 intention to apply for the various permits that • US Department of Energy Award 2002 would be required. Over the following • Utility Leadership Award from American Wind Energy months, a detailed RFP was prepared. The Association, 2003 RFP was formally released in January 2001, • Massachusetts Municipal Association’s Innovation and by March three bids were received. In Award, 2003 April the town accepted Vestas’ bid which • Climate Award for communities from Clean Air - Cool Assembly of Hull Wind One’s rotor included their popular V47 turbine. The Planet, 2003

Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, University of Massachusetts at Amherst Hull, Massachusetts Page 3 Obstacles & Champions Issues to be addressed Factors Affecting Hull’s Decision to Install a Wind Tur- bine The following is a list of potential issues that are typically considered in any wind project of this type, along with the The factors affecting Hull’s decision to install a new wind town’s perception of them for Hull’s particular case. turbine are closely related to the issues that needed to be addressed to realize such a Beneficiaries vs. those impacted The proposed owner and project (as outlined above). The most impor- operator of the project was always to be the Hull Municipal tant factors are summarized below. Light Plant. The beneficiaries were thus the residents of Hull. Similarly, those affected were also residents, with Municipal electric light plant The presence those closest to the turbine being the most affected. of a municipal utility in a town simplifies the process of acquiring distributed generation Visual impact To some extent the concern for the visual (such as a wind turbine), since there is clear impact in Hull was less than it might otherwise have been mechanism for doing so. This was certainly because there had been a turbine at the site for many years. true in the case of Hull, where the municipal Noise Noise is commonly brought up in relation to wind light plant was a participant in all stages in turbine proposal. The proximity of Hull to the Logan Air- the process. port flight paths, as well as the experience with a previous Local champions Undertaking projects of the turbine near the site diminished concern with this issue. type described in this paper can be a long, Nonetheless, detailed consideration was given to this issue slow process. Experience has shown that Local Champion John MacLeod, operations in the development process. Experience with the turbine having a few local people (“champions”) who since the installation has confirmed that noise is not a sig- manager of Hull Municipal Light Plant. can push the project along can greatly facili- nificant problem. tate the process. Hull was fortunate to have Avian impact The possible effect of a wind turbine on birds dedicated champions, including a determined resident, the has become a concern in nearly every siting exercise ever Operations Manager of the Light Plant, and various local since the problem first arose in California. The issue did and state public officials. arise in Hull as well, but in fact generated little debate. Good wind resource It was already apparent to the casual Value of energy produced In most non-municipal cases, this observer that Hull has a promising wind resource. Hull is on is the selling price of energy. In Hull’s case, the monetary a peninsula far out in the Boston Harbor, with as good an value of the energy is relatively high, since it displaces exposure to the winds as anywhere on the coast of Massa- purchases of the transmitted power that the municipal light chusetts. Historical experience from the days of sail, as well plant buys from its supplier. as the performance of the previous wind turbine, were con- sistent with that observation. During the course of the pro- Guaranteed market for the energy The construction of any ject, the wind resource was quantified to some extent by power plant depends on a long-term market for the power. reference to monitoring stations at nearby Logan Airport

Often this is sought in the form of a power purchase agree- and Thompson Island. ment (PPA). Since Hull has a municipal light plant, it is its own market, and needed no additional PPA. Public involvement Public involvement is one of the keys to addressing concerns of the residents. The decision making Local Champions Malcolm Responsibility of operation, maintenance and dismantling process involved the public at every step. This process was Brown and Andrew Stern

Frank Ward The low availability of the old 40 kW wind turbine was facilitated by the participation of the municipal light plant in display one of Hull’s many blamed in part on the fact that it was maintained by the high the project. school. Since HMLP was the assumed to be the new pro- leadership awards. ject’s operator and maintainer from the outset, this issue was Previous experience As mentioned above, and as will be not a major concern. described in more detail below, Hull had previously had a wind turbine installed very close to where the current tur- Skepticism in technology Skepticism in new technology is bine is now located. Experience with that turbine was not common and not without foundation. Hull had some experi- altogether positive, but it did help to focus attention on ence with modern wind energy technology, so it was not important issues and minimize concern with issues that are completely new to them. The previous turbine did not func- less important. tion as well as hoped. Nonetheless, it did function to some degree, and it may be that the experience with that turbine, Public benefit As discussed above, the energy produced by together with an understanding of how the wind turbines the turbine was recognized to benefit the town directly, had changed over the last twenty years, prevented residents through reduction in purchased energy. This was made from expressing much concern over the technology. particularly concrete by the Light Plant’s decision to use part of the “profit” from the wind turbine to cancel the bills Confidence in proponents Townsfolk may understandably to the town for the street lights. be skeptical about advice from any source, whether from local proponents, developers, salesmen, or officials from out Available site No project can succeed without a suitable of town. The process Hull used was conducive to building site. Hull was fortunate in that it owned a site (Windmill up trust, by being slow, deliberate, and securing the assis- Point) with good exposure to the winds, where the turbine tance of entities that were familiar with the technology and could be sited without serious conflicts with other uses. the issues, but did not stand to profit from the outcome. Technical support Innovative projects such as the one in Permitting and zoning Permitting and zoning are often is- Hull often require significant technical support in order to sues in any proposed wind energy project. In Massachusetts, be brought to successful fruition. Hull was fortunate in that municipal light plants are exempt from zoning requirements, it could take advantage of the Commonwealth’s Division of Wind Champion Jim Man- so that was not a concern in Hull. In any case, the land Energy Resources long-standing partnership with the Uni- well and his son Nate in where the turbine was sited was owned by the town. Diffi- versity of Massachusetts Renewable Energy Research Labo- front of Hull Wind One. culties with other permitting issues were minimized on ratory to assist in this project. account of the deliberate process of involving the town in

Credit for Brown & Stern photo: hullwind.org, Malcolm Brown. For Manwell For photo: Brown. Malcolm Stern hullwind.org, photo: & Credit for Brown the decision making.

Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, University of Massachusetts at Amherst Page 4 Community Wind Power Case Study

Renewable Economics Energy As a town with a good wind resource and a municipal Notes: Research electric company, Hull is especially well placed to See the full paper by Manwell et al. for a discussion benefit economically from wind power. Here is a of how these values are calculated . Laboratory brief overview of the economics of the project: * This value is quite high because Hull has a munici- University of pal electric company, which means that the value of Massachusetts at Annual energy production: 1,590,000 kWh the power produced is the avoided cost. A similar project by a town without a municipal power com- Amherst pany and without a large electric load would sell the Revenue power onto the grid, and the value of the power Value of energy purchases avoided*: $0.08/kWh would be a good deal lower. Value of REC’s**: $0.03/kWh ** See Fact Sheet 2, “Performance & Economics” for Value of REPI: $0.018/kWh a discussion of REC’s and the REPI Total Current Value of Energy : $0.128/kWh *** Not including in-kind development assistance from RERL, DOER, etc. Costs Capital cost, incl. installation***: $753,000 160 Governors Drive Operations, Maintenance & Insurance: ~$30,000/yr Amherst, MA 01003

Phone: 413-545-4359 E-mail: [email protected] Economic indicators www.ceere.org/rerl/ Cost of producing energy: ~6 ¢ /kWh Simple payback: 4-5 years Net present value of savings: $2-3 million, depending on inflation rates.

Mass. Technology Collaborative Public Power Mass. Renewable Energy Trust 75 North Drive Hull is one of 40 towns in Massachusetts that have distribute that power to customers in the town. Westborough, MA 01581 phone: 508-870-0312 municipally owned electric utilities. All of these Municipal utilities own and service the distribution www.mtpc.org/RenewableEnergy/ utilities were set up in the early days of electrifica- system in their town, and so are experienced in tion (before 1927). They serve about 13% of the issues associated with electricity supply. Municipal customers in the state. Municipal utilities can gen- utilities are operated under the management of a erate their own electricity, although most of them Light Board, which is elected by residents of the do not do so. In general, they purchase electricity town. Day-to-day operation is carried out under the from wholesalers, such as the Massachusetts Mu- direction of the Superintendent or Operations Man- nicipal Wholesale Electric Company, and then ager. For More Information

Hull wind’s website: www.hullwind.org Proposal, March 27, 1992. Case studies of community wind: Bolgen, N., “Hull Wind Turbine: Eleven Years of Opera- www.greenpowergovs.org/wind/Case% tion.” Massachusetts DOER Draft Report, June 3, 20Studies.html 1996 Danish Wind Industry Association: thorough and very Ellis, A. F., Rogers, A. L., and Manwell, J. F., “Wind accessible technical information: www.windpower.org Turbine Replacement Options Study,” Massachusetts American Wind Energy Association: www.awea.org DOER Report, June 18, 1999. Wind Turbine Siting In An Urban Environment: the Hull, Public power: MA 660 kW Turbine, J. F. Manwell, J. G. McGowan, Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Com- A. Rogers, A. Ellis, S. Wright, M. Brown, J. pany: www.mmwec.org/ MacLeod, Conference Proceedings, American Wind Northeast Public Power Association www.neppa.org/ Energy Association, 2003. Available at RERL web- American Public Power Association: site, /www.ceere.org/rerl/publications/whitepapers/ www.appanet.org/ AWEA_Hull_2003.pdf RERL’s website: www.ceere.org/rerl/ Bolgen, N., “Power Supply Proposal to New England For the complete series of RERL Community Wind Fact Power Company for the Development of the Hull Sheets, see www.ceere.org/rerl/about_wind/ Wind Turbine Powerplant,” Massachusetts DOER

Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, University of Massachusetts at Amherst