Worcester Business Journal

14 Worcester Business Journal • April 13, 2015 www.wbjournal.com GREEN BUSINESS << POWER BREAKFAST SERIES Worcester Business Journal's SOLAR Q Keynote Speaker: MATTHEW A. BEATON Secretary, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs State of Massachusetts YOU'RE INVITED! S olar energy is hot, and in the last several years has seen an unprecedented boom both nationally and here at home in Massachusetts. This special forum will address the growth in solar installations and the impact it is having on our region and state as well as what lies ahead for solar in Massachusetts and what impacts the industry will continue to have on our region, state, and business community. Please join us for this timely event featuring our keynote speaker and a panel discussion with industry experts covering variety of topics including the latest on state and federal incentives, tips and strategies to help your company navigate the increasingly dynamic solar marketplace and more! Register Today! Thursday, May 7, 2015 Beechwood Hotel, Worcester 7:30AM – 10:30AM Cost: $35 Pre-registration required. To register or for further event updates visit www.wbjournal.com/solar Questions – Contact Kris Prosser at kprosser@wbjournal.com. Supporting Sponsors: Experts: Wind energy still has potential in Massachusetts W ind power has always had a bluster y outlook in Massachusetts. With a dense population and lower wind speeds com- pared with flat-plain states, the Bay State was never going to become the Wind Farm State. The largest potential for wind power in Massachusetts has always been in off- shore projects that can access strong, sustained winds, according to Jim Manwell, director of the Wind Energy Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Cape Wind was supposed to access this potential with 130 wind turbines off the coast of Nantucket. But after National Grid and Eversource Energy ended their contracts with the project's developers to buy some of the power, the potential for large-scale wind power in Massachusetts has hit a speed bump. Yet despite large upfront costs and issues in finding appropriate locations, wind still represents a valuable resource of alternative energy in the interior of the state — including Central Massachusetts, according to experts. Before the end of federal wind tax incentives in 2013, there was a wind- turbine construction boom in Massachusetts, said Catherine Finneran, senior director for renewable energy generation at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), a state agen- cy that oversees public funding for alter- native energy projects. The number of wind projects in the state climbed from three in the early 2000s to 45 completed undertakings. Together, they generate 107 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 32,000 households for a year. Following the loss of the incentives, interest in similar projects has cooled somewhat, Finneran said. But wind projects are still eligible for renewable energy credits (RECs) that can be sold to organizations looking to balance their energy portfolios, said Katie Gronendyke, spokeswoman for Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. The two turbines at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner not only cover all of the school's electricity needs, they pump some power back into the grid while bringing in about $200,000 a year to the college through the sale of RECs, according to Robert LaBonte, the school's vice president of finance and administration. "It is a cost-effective technology if you have the right site and the right wind resource, but it is very site-specific and the wind resource has a lot to do with the economics of the project," Finneran said. The projects in Central Massachusetts that were built during the boom are now pumping clean, renewable energy back into the communities where they sit. When the Templeton Light Co. wanted to expand its renewable energy base, the public utility turned to a wind turbine in 2010. Five years later, the wind turbine has produced 7,438 megawatt hours of electricity, enough to power 2,454,540 homes for one hour. The main benefit to the wind turbine is that it churns away all year and is actu- ally most productive during the winter, said John Driscoll, general manager at Templeton Light. While the summer months have traditionally put a strain on the power grid, the winter months have become an issue with gas-fired electrici- ty plants raising the cost of energy. "You can only count on solar when the sun is out," he said. "The wind tur- bine has the potential to run every hour of the year … I would rather have the turbine spinning in January than have the solar in July." Challenges Wind power faces unique challenges in Massachusetts, starting with the state's geography. The areas with the biggest capacity for wind power are often locat- ed near more densely populated areas, but that leads to local opposition, said Manwell. Yet, wind power is also viable in areas with high, sustained winds, gen- erally along the coast or the Worcester hills and the Berkshires, Gronendyke said. Also, a large, initial financial outlay is needed for wind projects. Templeton's turbine cost the organization $3.8 mil- lion, with an expected payback of nine to 14 years. But that has been extended by the recent drop in energy costs, Driscoll said. "Wind projects take a long time. They are large projects … and can be tens of millions of dollars for even a communi- ty-sized project," Finneran said. However, the greatest challenge to wind projects may lie in solar, whose equipment doesn't have to reach into the sky, thus reducing perceived impact on neighbors. Lease deals with solar companies allow landowners to have solar power placed on their properties without the increased upfront cost of a large wind project. Solar has also had great success since the establishment of additional state support in 2010 through the RPS Solar Carve-Out incentive program. "This is not meant to be a shift away from wind, but solar is generally much easier to site across the commonwealth," Gronendyke said. Unlike wind, solar projects can be scaled up, yet smaller projects still pro- vide viable payback and power. The state currently has 776 megawatts of installed solar power, according to Finneran. "We have seen a lot of solar develop- ment over the past 5 to 8 years and prices on solar have come down signifi- cantly, so it is an affordable option," she said, acknowledging that wind prices have come down as well, but remain larger, more expensive projects. Q BY SAM BONACCI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer

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