Massachusetts Technologhy Collaborative Sold Falmouth Wind I to Falmouth

“Prof. Manwell also provides assistance to the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Division of Energy Resources (DOER) to facilitate the introduction of renewable energy to the state.”

Biggest Issue Facing Wind Projects in New England: Noise

EBC New England Land- Based Wind Energy Conference
Challenges of Siting and Permitting Projects

Monday, November 22, 2010

Wilmer Hale
60 State Street
Boston

Wind energy development in New England has lagged behind development in other parts of the country, notably the Midwest, Texas, and California, due in part to our unique landscape and culture. However, over the past four years, a few modest-sized utility scale projects, numerous community scale and distributed generation facilities have been constructed in the region. These projects have provided practical information to developers and the public about what it is like to develop and live with wind energy. In this context, the EBC presents this one day conference to hear about the New England experience with land-based wind energy.

Final Agenda

7:30 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast Networking

8:00 a.m. Welcome Daniel Moon, President EBC
Introduction Stephen Barrett
Chair EBC Wind Energy Development Committee
Director of Clean Energy, HMMH
Vice President, Minuteman Wind LLC

8:15 a.m. Wind Energy and the Berkshires
• Tyler Fairbank, CEO, EOS Ventures

8:45 a.m. Spotlight on the State of Maine’s Wind Activities
• Juliet Browne, Verrill Dana

9:30 a.m. Networking Break

10:00 a.m. The Biggest Issue Facing Wind Projects in New England: Noise
• Falmouth (MA) Wind Turbine Noise Assessment
Chris Menge, Harris Miller Miller & Hanson Inc.
• Groton Utility Scale Wind Project, Hot from the NH SEC Hearings
Rob O’Neal, Epsilon Associates
• Lawrence Berkeley Lab’s Study of the Fox Island Wind Project
Dr. George Baker, Island Institute

11:30 a.m. Wind Resource Characteristics In New England – What Makes It Different?
Dr. Jim Manwell, Director, UMASS Wind Energy Center

12:15 p.m. Lunch

Luncheon Speaker -- Wind Turbines and Public Health
• Dr. Robert McCunney, Massachusetts General Hospital

1:30 p.m. Development in New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut
• Susan Geiger, Orr & Reno
• Martha Staskus, Vermont Environmental Research Associates
• Paul Corey, BNE Energy

3:00 p.m. Networking Break

3:30 p.m. Developers Roundtable
Moderated by: Ruth Silman Nixon Peabody LLP
• Will Havemeyer, First Wind
• Randy Male, Citizens Energy
• Mark Lyons, Iberdrola
• Rod Jane, New England Expansion Strategies

4:30 p.m. Adjourn

Program Chair

Stephen B. Barrett
Director of Clean Energy, HMMH
77 South Bedford Street, Burlington, MA 01803
781-229-0707 339-234-2696 sbarrett@hmmh.com

Steve is the Director of Clean Energy with Harris Miller Miller & Hanson (HMMH) where he is developing a new business practice providing clean energy and sustainability strategies for private and public sector clients including Airports, municipalities, and private developers. He has worked in private consulting for the past 12 years, and before that worked for the Coastal Zone Management Office in Massachusetts for 4 year. He is currently town consultant to the Town of Edgartown on its proposed Muskeget Channel Tidal Energy Project and to the Town of Nantucket on ocean planning and offshore wind.

Steve is also the Vice President and Partner of Minuteman Wind, LLC which is proposing a 12.5 MW land-based wind project in the Berkshires. He holds a Masters in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of Virginia, a Bachelors in International Policy from Union College, is a Board member of Clean Power Now and Chair of the EBC?s Wind Energy Committee.

SPEAKERS

Dr. George Baker, CEO
Fox Island Wind
P.O. Box 648, Rockland, ME 04841
207-594-9209 gbaker@islandinstitute.org

Dr. George Baker George Baker is Vice President for Community Wind at the Island Institute. He is currently on leave from Harvard Business School, where he has been on faculty since 1986. Dr. Baker has spent the last two and a half years spearheading community wind projects on Maine’s islands. He is the CEO of the 4.5 MW Fox Islands Wind Power Project, a member of the Swans Island Electric Cooperative’s Board of Trustees and serves on the Maine Governor’s Ocean Energy Task Force. Dr. Baker will speak about research being conducted by the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on noise impacts of the Fox Island Project.

Juliet Browne, Partner
Verrill Dana, LLP
One Portland Square, Portland, ME 04112
207-253-4608 jbrowne@verrilldana.com

Ms. Juliet T. Browne is a Partner at Verrill Dana, and is Chair of the Environmental Law Group. She specializes in all aspects of environmental law, including project permitting under federal, state and local laws, compliance with federal and state environmental laws, litigation in state and federal courts, redevelopment of contaminated properties, and transactional matters. Since 2007, Ms. Browne has been the lead on successfully permitting numerous major wind power projects in Maine, totaling more than 367 MW. She will provide an overview of wind energy development in Maine over the past four years and highlight major issues facing the industry.

Will Havemeyer, General Counsel
First Wind
179 Lincoln Street, Suite 500, Boston, MA 02111
617-960-9648 whavemeyer@firstwind.com

Mr. Will Havemeyer is Associate General Counsel at First Wind Energy in Boston. He represents the company on real estate and permitting matters related to the siting and permitting of wind energy facilities nationwide. Mr. Havemeyer will moderate the Developers’ Roundtable portion of the conference where wind energy developers will reflect on their experiences in developing wind projects in New England.

Dr. Jim Manwell, Director
UMASS Wind Energy Center
UMASS - 10B Gunness Lab, Amherst, MA 01003
413-545-4359 manwell@ecs.umass.edu

Professor Jim Manwell is on the faculty of the Department Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Massachusetts (UMASS) in Amherst and is the Director of the Wind Energy Center there. He has been working in field of wind energy for over 25 years, where his research interests have focused on wind resource assessment, hybrid power system design, and offshore wind energy.

Beginning in the 1980’s and continuing up to the present he has been active in the design and modeling of hybrid power systems, including the development of the Hybrid2 computer code. Hybrid systems include multiple types of generators, electrical loads, storage units and control systems.

Under his direction, the Wind Energy Center installed in 1994 the first utility scale (250 kW) wind turbine in Massachusetts. This turbine forms an integral part of the research and education program at the University. More recently, he has assisted the Town of Hull in acquiring a 660 kW wind turbine in 2001 (the largest in New England at that time), followed by a 1.8 MW wind turbine in 2006 (again, the largest in New England). He is an author of a textbook on wind energy: Wind Energy Explained: Theory, Design and Application.

Prof. Manwell also provides assistance to the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Division of Energy Resources (DOER) to facilitate the introduction of renewable energy to the state. Currently he is the U.S. representatives to the International Electrotechnical Commission’s program (IEC TC88 WG3) to develop design standards for offshore wind turbines. He is also a member of the International Science Panel on Renewable Energy.

Dr. Robert McCunney, Research Scientist & Lecturer
Mass General Hospital,
MIT, 245 First Ave, 18th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02142
617-258-5650 mccunney@mit.edu

Dr. Robert McCunney is a specialist in occupational and environmental medicine; a staff physician in the Pulmonary Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and a research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His clinical focus is on illnesses associated with occupational and environmental hazards. Dr. McCunney has extensive experience in evaluating the effects of noise on hearing via reviewing audiometric tests. He has written book chapters on the topic and regularly lectures at the Harvard School of Public Health on “Noise and Health.” Dr. McCunney will speak about the report he co-authored titled “Wind Turbine Sound and Health Effects: An Expert Panel Review” released in December 2009.

Chris Menge, Senior Vice President
Harris Miller Miller & Hanson
77 S. Bedford Street, Burlington MA, 01803
781-229-0707 cmenge@hmmh.com

Rob O’Neal, Principal
Epsilon Associates
3 Clock Tower Place, Maynard, MA 01754
978-461-4236 roneal@epsilonassociates.com