This post was originally published as an op-ed in the Cape Cod Times. It is co-authored by Peter Rothstein, president of the New England Clean Energy Council, and Francis Pullaro, executive director of Renewable Energy New England Inc.
Massachusetts is becoming a global innovation center for the growing wind energy industry. Our institutions are researching, developing and manufacturing new technologies for wind turbines, blades, turbines, transmission and other critical infrastructure capacity. The wind industry stands ready to transform the Bay State’s economy and reinvigorate our manufacturing base.
As the state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy considers changes to the state’s wind permitting process, it should keep in mind how public policy sustains existing renewable energy jobs and promotes innovation. A sensible balance between local control and simplified permitting rules will allow the commonwealth to lead the nation in wind energy.
Recently, one major turbine manufacturer announced it would build a new facility in Marlboro to develop and test the generators used in its wind turbines. The facility will provide 100 good jobs and have room for expansion. The state’s new Turbine Blade Test Center is another key resource that will draw cutting-edge wind technology companies — and their jobs — to Massachusetts.
While Massachusetts has all the necessary resources to take a leadership role in this sector, recent experience has shown that significant barriers to the siting of wind turbines are holding back the state’s ability to capitalize on this opportunity. Uncertainty around the designation of potential sites for wind projects raises the costs of developing wind resources in the state. Combining support for innovation and R&D with a streamlined siting process can give Massachusetts a competitive advantage and reposition it as a leader in an advanced energy economy.
The Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy is currently considering a bill to improve Massachusetts’ wind permitting process to allow the state to meet its potential in wind energy.
This bill incorporates lessons we have learned in the first few years of implementation of the Green Communities Act. These lessons explicitly indicate that siting processes must plan to include local communities, be transparent, and reduce costly delays associated with appeals of siting permits approved by municipalities. It is only reasonable that the siting process for wind projects be as efficient as siting for traditional power plants.
Clean, affordable and homegrown wind energy creates multiple opportunities for the Bay State. It frees consumers from the risks of volatile energy prices. It also creates jobs while recirculating funds in the Massachusetts economy instead of sending our money to import fuel from outside the state.
Further, it provides significant public health advantages over dangerous and polluting electric generation sources, including the region’s fleet of old fossil fuel power plants. Unlike these plants, wind-powered generators utilize no water, emit no greenhouse gases and none of the air pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and mercury that result in health harms such as respiratory and cardiovascular disease and the environmental problems of acid rain and smog.
Wind energy is also growing tremendously. Wind is becoming one of the most cost-effective sources of new electricity generation, accounting for 35 percent of all new energy generation developed and connected to the grid in the United States in since 2007.
The proposed Massachusetts wind siting reform bill can help build on our state’s already impressive capacity in wind. In conjunction with support from Congress — in particular, through extension of the Production Tax Credit — this foundation of sound policy will keep the wind industry growing. With such a foundation in place, the people of Massachusetts, as well as our economy and the air we breathe, will reap the benefits.
