NEW HAMPSHIRE WIND BOOM

Advocates voice optimism for NH's wind power potential

Gerry Miles, July 15, 2012 (New Hampshire Union Leader)

“New Hampshire has the potential to have its wind industry grow fivefold during 2012, according to the American Wind Energy Association…State wind production is currently 26 megawatts, with projects that will produce an additional 147 megawatts under construction…[and the use of] renewable energies in the state is growing…

“The Lempster Wind Power Project’s 12 turbines produce enough energy (up to 24 megawatts) to power 10,000 homes and offset the carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to 5,700 cars annually. Each turbine tower stands 256 feet tall, supporting a 139-foot turbine blade, making the total height 395 feet when the blade is vertical to the ground. Lempster is owned by the Iberdrola Renewables company…Public Service of New Hampshire buys all of Lempster’s power, which is then resold to the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative.

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“Granite Reliable Power Windpark in Coos County was purchased by Brookfield Renewable Energy in February 2011…Brookfield hopes to boost its wind portfolio to have an installed capacity of more than 600 megawatts by the end of 2012. Granite Reliable has a stated output of 99 megawatts…The Antrim wind farm is still in the permitting process [and is expected to break ground about 2014]…One of the state’s first wind farms, Loranger Power Generation in Berlin, was commissioned in 2006. It is capable of producing about 1.35 megawatts of power…The power generated at Loranger comes from three turbines and is returned to the state’s power grid by Public Service of New Hampshire.

“About 12 percent of the state’s power is derived from renewable energy resources…[T]he majority of the state’s electricity is produced by fossil fuel (47 percent) and nuclear power (41 percent)…The first wind turbines in the United States were installed on land at the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield, dedicated on April 24, 1981…Each tower, built by US Windpower, stood 60 feet tall and used a three-blade fiberglass propeller 20 feet wide to generate power. The project failed, and the company declared bankruptcy in 1996.”

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