RENEWABLE ENERGY: OFF SITE
There are quite a few significant large renewable energy installations near Harvard. Below are highlights of a few of those projects, including wind, biomass, solar, and waste gasification systems.
Hull Wind Turbines
The town of Hull, on Massachusetts’ south shore, has installed two wind turbines. Hull Wind One is a Vestas V47 660 kW turbine was built in 2001 and supplies about 3% of the town’s electricity. Hull 1 and was the first commercial turbine on the U.S.’s east coast and the first large scale turbine in a suburban community in North America.
Hull Wind Two is a Vestas V80 1.8 MW turbine located on the town’s landfill. It was commissioned in 2006 and supplies about 10% of the town’s electricity. Both are owned and operated by Hull’s municipal electricity company. Hull plans on building four offshore turbines to supply the rest of their electricity needs.
Harvard has a $1.8 million contract with the town to buy Renewable Energy Credits from Hull 2 for ten years. This satisfies Harvard’s Renewable Portfolio Standard obligations and guarantees a steady income to the town to pay for the turbine.
Hull Wind One (photo from hullwind.org)
More Information about Hull Wind
E Magazine: Hull Wind: A Renewable Energy Cash Cow
Hull Wind
Community Wind Case Study: Hull Wind
Massachusetts Wind Energy Projects
Other Wind Turbines in Massachusetts
Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort, 1.5 MW, Hancock (installed 2007)
IBEW Local 103, 0.1 MW turbine, Boston (installed 2005)
Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 0.66 MW turbine, Buzzards Bay (installed 2006)
Princeton Muni Light, 0.32 MW, Princeton (installed 1984)
For more information on constructed and proposed wind turbines, check out the Wind Project Database.
Schiller Biomass Field Station
Schiller Field Station, an electric utility in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, converted one of its coal burning units to run on biomass (wood chips) in 2006. If run at full capacity, the 50 MW facility should create 394,200 MW of energy a year. The switch was profitable because the owners, Public Service Company of New Hampshire, is able to sell the Renewable Energy Credits on the market to Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Wood Chips at Schiller Station
More Information about Schiller Station
Portsmouth Herald: Schiller Station Gets Ready for a Powerful Switch
Other Biomass Plants in Massachusetts
Fitchburg Power Station (Pine Tree Power), Westminster (17 MW)
Ware Cogen Plant, (8.6 MW)
Mt. Wachusett Community College, Gardner (2.4 MW)
Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Northhampton, cogeneration system (230 kW)
Planned Biomass Plants
Russell Biomass, Russell (50 MW)
Palmer Biomass, Springfield (30 MW)
BioMass Energy Resource Center, Orange (15 kW)
North Quabbin Biomass CHP Plant, Franklin County (5-10 MW)
Brockton Solar Brightfield
In 2006, a 425 kW solar PV system was constructed on a former brownfield site in Brockton, MA. At the time of construction, it was the largest solar energy plant in New England and the largest brightfield (a solar energy plant on a former brownfield site) in the US. The city plans to expand the plant until its capacity is 1 MW. The opening of the brightfield in Brockton is especially appropriate, as Brockton is where Thomas Edison first tested his standardized three-wire central power system in 1883.
Brockton Brightfield (photo from www.us.schott.com)
Other Large Solar PV Installations in Massachusetts
MassInnovation, Fitchburg (140 kW)
MWRA Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, Boston (100 kW)- in design phase
Ze-gen Waste Gasification
Ze-gen, founded in 2004, develops waste gasification technology which converts construction and demolition waste (C&D) and municipal solid waste (MSW) into near zero-emissions synthetic natural gas (syngas) and electrical energy through combined-cycle power production. They recently opened a new demonstration facility in New Bedford, MA.