Wind Committee receives $85,000 grant for turbine feasibility study

The Northborough Wind Committee hopes to eventually erect a wind turbine, like this one at Holy Name High School in Worcester, in Northborough. PHOTO/ANDREW SULLIVAN Northborough- The string of success for the Wind Comm continues.

Members of Northborough’s Wind Committee were thrilled to learn recently that the town will receive an $85,000 grant from the Massachusetts Technological Collaborative (MTC) to continue their plan to bring an energyefficient wind turbine to town. The Board of Selectmen approved the grant at its Jan. 25 meeting and the committee is preparing for the next step in the process.

Co-Chair Bob Giles is pleased about the recent news.

“It was a very competitive bid,” Giles said. “The MTC reviewed the application and agreed that we had a potentially good site and thus awarded us the grant. The members are all very satisfied because everyone has been working hard to make this happen.”

The money will be put toward a feasibility study at one of the proposed locations, Tougas Farm. Giles is hopeful that the information will help the committee decide which location would be most productive - Tougas Farm, Mount Pisgah, or Davidian Brothers Farm.

“Once the study is done, we are going to decided based on the engineer’s recommendations where the best location would be,” Giles said. “It will be based on what would work best.”

The feasibility study is a comprehensive one. A meteorological tower costing between $15,000 and$25,000 will be constructed on Tougas Farm. Then, for 12 months, various things will be measured including wind speed, direction, and impact on wildlife habitat, as well as any potential concerns about disrupting the navigation of airplanes.

“It’s a very intense and a wellengineered process,” Giles said.

Town official s ar e i n support of the project and feedback from them has been positive. Selectman Bill Pantazis said he was impressed with how “much the committee has accomplished in such a short period of time,” and Giles and the rest of the Wind Committee members were happy to hear it.

“It really is getting a lot of thanks not only from officials but from people in town,” Giles said. “I think it’s good to see smiling faces when they see what we are doing for the town. Right now we are not costing the town a single penny and we have the potential to make money for the town to off set the municipal cost of electric bills.”

With plans for the feasibility study in place and the construction of the meteorological tower not too far off , it’s hard not to be impressed with the success the committee has had, barely a year into its existence.

“You always wonder if you’re going to make it to the next step because it’s a step-by-step process and you have to pass every step,” Giles said. “The feasibility test will be the biggest one.”

One thing is for sure, the hard work will continue for these individuals.

“We’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished,” Giles said. “We have a lot of good people on the team and this project requires a team of good workers.”