Falmouth Wind Turbines - Last Two Yugos On Lot - 4 Million

First, all Town Meeting Members need to know in today's market you could buy and install a brand new state of the art 2-megawatt wind turbine at a new location for 3 to 4 million. This is the same amount the Select Board proposes you spend on moving and re-installing the old gear-driven wind turbines because of a 5 million dollar ARRA loan on Falmouth Wind II.

So, Here they go again with another "Slam Dunk." Town Meeting Members for every six months for years have been asked for more and more money for legal fees to fight as many as eleven lawsuits over the poorly sited wind turbines. The courts finally shut down the turbines almost three years ago.

In July of 2017 Falmouth Select Board Chair, Susan Moran and the board voted not to appeal the court decision to shut down the old gear-driven 110-decibel wind turbines. Chairwoman Susan Moran now in the running for a Massachusetts State Senate seat was quoted as saying: “It's time to put the matter behind us and move forward.”

The only reason for the change of heart is the 5 million ARRA loan approved by Falmouth Special Town Meeting June 2009 on Falmouth Wind II which is now due in full including interest.

Town Meeting Members need to ask how many of the Select Board Members drive twenty-year-old cars with a stick shift gear-driven transmission that you have to shift with one foot and your hand or how many Yugos do you see in downtown Falmouth? None.

The Yugo was a small car made up until 1992 also the ultimate automotive failure. The car was poorly engineered, ugly, and cheap, it survived much longer than the production of the two town-owned V-82 megawatt wind turbines designed in the late 1990s. Likewise, the wind industry no longer produces gear-driven wind turbines or makes blades out of balsa wood, fiberglass, and resin. The wind industry refers to these types of blades as manmade asbestos.

The Select Board in January of 2019 asked the Town Council to issue an RFP, Request for Proposal to sell or move the wind turbines. Almost a year later there is no RFP. No one wants 20-year-old technology on their property.

The Falmouth Select Board somehow has been led to believe these old gear-driven wind turbines have an asset value of 5 to 10 million. The simple fact is out in the midwest they are dropping these types of gear-driven turbines by the dozen and taking them to dump sites. The scrap value of the steel doesn't pay for the labor to cut them up.

History: Before Congress in February 2019 described the Falmouth wind turbine installation as a “disaster.”

General Electric a domestic wind turbine company refused to build one small wind turbine in Falmouth due to ice throw and residential setbacks. The town went forward placing two larger V-82 turbines each turbine twice as loud as the GE turbine at 110 decibels of noise each.
The Town of Falmouth is trying to move Falmouth Wind II and move with it the 5 million federal ARRA loan brokered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection which required the turbine to remain operational or the loan and interest are due.

The 2010 federal waiver to buy the foreign-made wind turbine number # 2 required: "According to the submittal, Zoning Article XXXIV, Chapter 240, Section 240-166 requires a Special Permit for windmills"

No permit 240-166 was filed - The loan should never have been granted and the turbine should never have been built

Real costs to remove two turbines by controlled explosion and buy a brand new 2 megawatt turbine installed for 3 to 4 million.

Reliable sources report assuming you have 1,200 feet of room to fell the two (2) V-82.1.65 Megawatt units in Falmouth, Massachusetts in 2020, you would likely be talking about something between $70,000 and $100,000, depending on the actual configuration of the units and other variables. That is less than one-quarter of what it would cost to dismantle the two (2) units in today’s dollars.

There is likely no resale or spare parts value for these two (2) older units given the cost of dismantling and the velocity with which wind turbine technology is changing annually.

Units built in 2004 are dinosaurs in today’s wind turbine arena. Money spent by the town in dismantling and trying to save the units for resale would likely be ill-spent.

If the Town manager wants to discuss the most cost-effective way to get these units down and clear the site he should look into the most inexpensive method.

Not the most expensive !