​Falmouth Wind Turbine Disaster Continues Until Further Notice

On February 6, 2019, a Congressional Committee asked Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker about the two town-owned nuisance wind turbines shut down by the courts in June of 2017.

A national newspaper wrote an editorial describing the ten million dollar health disaster caused by two types of noise and shadow flicker.

The Massachusetts governor agreed the project did not go as planned.

In November of 2019 at the request of the Falmouth Select Board, the Town Meeting approved 2.5 million to take down the turbines and put them in storage for sale or lease to somewhere outside the Town of Falmouth.

The gear-driven turbines were designed in the late 1990s and assembled in early 2004. The turbines were held in storage in Texas for five years until the first one was installed in Falmouth.
There has been no update on the wind turbines since the Falmouth Town Meeting in 2019.

Town Meeting Members voted to store the turbines without knowing the condition of the turbines.

The older Falmouth megawatt wind turbine blades are made of fiberglass composite which can measure 200 feet or more in length and weigh up to 7 tons. Over the years their exposure to the elements, blades can split, crack, and develop holes along their edges. Currently, if one blade needs replacement all three need to be replaced at a cost of one million each.

As far as the gearbox goes the town gets advanced warnings of an impending gearbox failure by the number of microns of metal grindings in oil samples in the gearbox. Once the metal shows up in the oil it's generally too late and the turbine needs a gearbox replacement.

A privately-owned turbine the same make Vestas turbine had its gears replaced several years ago along with a Furlander on the Cape Cod airbase.

The town still owes 3.5 million at 2 percent interest on Falmouth Wind II the second town-owned wind turbine. The loan was brokered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection through the State Revolving Fund using the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Green Project Reserve of 2009.

Each turbines generates 110 decibels of noise and no permits were issued to install the turbines. As of June of 2019 the town received five to nine letters of interest in the wind turbines. A year later the town is working with the its contract engineering company to come up with a Request for Proposal as requested by the Select Board in January of 2019.

Governor Charlie Baker testified before the House Natural Resources Committee in Washington, D.C.

Submitted written testimony can be found here. Live video of the hearing can be found here.