What's Preventing New Wind Turbine From Spinning
Find out what's delaying the new Hodges Badge wind turbine in Portsmouth from spinning for the first time.
It's been more than two months since construction on the Hodges Badge wind turbine was completed, and yet the turbine is still not turning.
What's the hold up?
Rick Hodges, owner of the Hodges Badge company, says they are waiting on certificates and approval from National Grid before turning on the turbine. Hodges writes about the process in the following e-mail:
We are getting very close. National Grid says that we should have their letter some time next week stating that we have met all of their conditions to connect to the grid. The other thing we are waiting from is a welding certification (which has to come from the tower manufacturer in India) and should also be here next week.
When we have both of those, we can finish the installation and turn it on! We are trying to get the technician here next week, but that will only happen if the other turbine he’s working on gets done by then, otherwise it will be a few days longer.
Following the commissioning of the turbine and acceptance by National Grid, the turbine will become the third in operation in Portsmouth, and the fourth on Aquidneck Island. In Portsmouth, a turbine is already located at Portsmouth High School and another stands erected at Portsmouth Abbey.
Able to generate power at a wind speed of just nine miles per hour, the turbine is expected to cover the electrical needs of Hodges’ entire manufacturing operation.
In This article
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Hodges Badge Company
1170 E Main Rd, Portsmouth, RI -
Portsmouth High School
120 Education Ln, Portsmouth, RI -
Portsmouth Abbey School
285 Corys Ln, Portsmouth, RI
T.
6:55 am on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
India? Really. How sad is it that it is cheaper to build this thing in India and ship it here.
nun
8:53 am on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Ironic how many of these turbines sit in locations very nearby to where windmills sat years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
While some view these as a scar on the landscape, I see them as a thing of beauty representing independence from foreign oil and a kinder footprint on the environment.
Dan Force
9:41 am on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
"Thing of beauty"? Do you live 645 feet from one?
a resident with a watchful eye
8:47 am on Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Mr Force, I sympathize with the "flicker" you may get but didn't you take permanent residence in your home in 2010? Wasn't the turbine already there. This turbine makes and saves the town money. Things in town are not perfect everywhere. Those near public safety hear the PD and FD sirens. Those on Hedley St put up with transfer station traffic......etc, etc, etc.
Dan Force
9:52 am on Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Nope. I’ve lived there since 2002. Well before the turbine was planned. But that doesn’t matter, having lived as close to it as I have, I can say with authority that turbines that size don’t belong within a quarter-mile (maybe more) of dwellings where people live. Flicker isn’t welcome, but it isn’t even my main concern. I tracked the flicker for the first two years that the turbine was in operation. In both years we experienced approximately 90 hours of flicker each year. Just 90 hours in a calendar year. But that doesn’t mean that I like it. Who would? At my close proximity I’m also concerned with the potential “ice fling.” Imagine a 200+ pound chunk of ice being thrown from one of the blades and hitting my house. That might as well be a missile. Of course there’s the noise too. That can be annoying on summer nights when the windows are open….
Dan Force
9:53 am on Wednesday, March 21, 2012
… But to be completely honest, I voted in favor of the turbine…BUT, that was when it was going to be erected at the middle school. It was only at the last minute that the FAA determined it couldn’t go up at the middle school because of the Newport Airport flight path. So, the high school location was used. That really makes me upset with the town for its lack of due diligence. Really? The FAA says you’ve got to have a blinking red light on top of it but you don’t ask them if the location is OK? And you’re right…maybe there aren’t “perfect” places for certain things. But there are certainly better locations. Go to Google Maps and look at an aerial photo of the town. It could have been put in the middle of some of the farmland, golf courses, or at the Glen where it would be significantly farther from dwellings than is the case at PHS. And, it would still function as efficiently. But what am I going to do? Fight town hall to take it down? No, it’s up and it’s going to stay. Taking it down would cost us (taxpayers) money. Compensating those of us close to it would even probably raise our taxes in other ways. Anything would result in the town compensating to make up whatever they pay out in other ways.
ralph
9:18 am on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
OMG.....another buyer and Obozo supporter into the whole green energy thing. These wind turbines are nothing but an eyesore. Period. If the windmills are so good from years ago, let them put those up. They're are a lot more pleasing to the eye than those fiberglass/composite monstrosities.
Average Joe
9:51 am on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
I am no "Obozo supporter", but if I have a choice between windmills or those huge cooling towers/smoke stacks/piles of coal just to our north at Brayton Point, I choose windmills.
Nickyboy
10:12 am on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
These are wind TURBINES, not windmills. They create electrical energy, not ground grains.
Peggy
12:05 pm on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
According to a video somewhere on the Patch from a few months ago, there was "Stimulus" money involved. I guess we stimulated India.
Sandy McGee
2:09 pm on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Does anyone else think the wind turbines are an "eyesore?" Should I put together a poll on this?
Peggy
3:44 pm on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
i voted against the big Portsmouth turbine..but after they put it up, I changed my mind.. I consider it a Sculpture that actually does something..it makes electricity. I'm not overly impressed with the "little windmills", but I like the Big Wind Turbines. Bigger the better. Fall River has a nice 2.0 Mega Watt privately owned Turbine at the old airport. Much Bigger than ours at the High School.
TAMORI
3:46 pm on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
“Eyesore” kind of depends. I mean I’d rather have a wind turbine(s) than a coal burning power plant. But then I’d also rather have a tree(s) than a wind turbine(s).
Sunny Shores
6:20 pm on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
The only opinions that should be counted are from people who are currently living near turbines. There is much written both pro and con, these residents know what's fact and what's fiction.
I have no problem with how turbines look however I would not want one in my back yard if there is ANY truth to the flicker, noise, ice throw, etc. issues.
Peggy
7:56 pm on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
I agree with you Sunny Shores. I do not live near a Turbine. Shadow Flicker IS REAL. In our Northern Hemisphere, Flicker would only be a problem IF you live on the North side of the Turbine..because the sun will always be South of you in all seasons.. You will NOT see Flicker If you live to the South of the Turbine.....
I think Dan Force lives to the North of the PHS Turbine..and close.
Joe Sousa.
7:59 pm on Wednesday, March 21, 2012
When I think of our son's and daughters fighting in the middle east, it is easy to except energy that is home grown.