Wind power in New Hampshire explained
Wind power in New Hampshire began in 1980, with the installation of the world's first wind farm at Crotched Mountain, consisting of 20 30 kW wind turbines, although it closed decades ago.[1] As of 2020, five wind power projects are operating in the state of New Hampshire – Lempster Mountain, which opened in 2008, Granite Reliable Wind Farm, which opened in late 2011, Groton Wind, which opened in 2012, Jericho Mountain, which opened in 2015, and Antrim Wind, which opened in 2020.
Granite Reliable has 33 Vestas three-megawatt wind turbines on mountains in the Phillips Brook area.[2] [3] [4]
Groton Wind consists of 24 Gamesa G87 2.0 MW turbines, and are located along two ridges west of Plymouth, in the town of Groton. Although there is a high voltage power line to the west of the wind farm, the power is transmitted to a new substation at the Campton–Holderness town line.[5] [6] Turbines are tall and the blades are long.
A wind farm in Antrim opened in 2020.[7] It had been expected to begin construction in 2014, but on February 7, 2013, New Hampshire's Site Evaluation Committee rejected the proposal by a 6 to 3 vote, the first time the SEC has turned down a wind project.[8] The primary reason for the rejection was stated as the visual and aesthetic impact the proposed turbines would have had on the Audubon Society of New Hampshire's Willard Pond Sanctuary and the region in general. The project was eventually approved with 9 turbines, one fewer than originally proposed.
New Hampshire is a net power producer, generating more than is consumed. The output of Groton Wind is going to NStar, in Boston, and 55% of Granite is going to Vermont.[9] In 2010 New Hampshire produced 22 million MWh, and used 7.7 million MWh.[10]
A 2009 regulation requires state approval of any energy facility of over 30 MW, and transmission lines over 100 kV.[11]
| Name | Capacity
(MW) | Energy
(GW·hr/yr) | Location
(county) | Status |
|---|
| 24 | 70[12] | | Operating |
| 99[13] | 224[14] | | Operating[15] |
| 48 | 144-158[16] | | Operating[17] [18] [19] |
| 5 | 14 | | Operating [20] |
| Antrim Wind | 9 | 29 | | Operating[21] |
|
New Hampshire Wind Generation Capacity by Year| ImageSize = width:280 height:auto barincrement:20PlotArea = left:36 bottom:20 top:10 right:10AlignBars = justifyPeriod = from:0 till:300TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:150 start:0 PlotData= color:pink width:20 bar:1999 from:start till:0.1 text:0.1 bar:2000 from:start till:0.1 text:0.1 bar:2001 from:start till:0.1 text:0.1 bar:2002 from:start till:0.1 text:0.1 bar:2003 from:start till:0.1 text:0.1 bar:2004 from:start till:0.1 text:0.1 bar:2005 from:start till:0.1 text:0.1 bar:2006 from:start till:1.1 text:1.1 bar:2007 from:start till:1.1 text:1.1 bar:2008 from:start till:25.1 text:25.1 bar:2009 from:start till:25.2 text:25.2 bar:2010 from:start till:25.5 text:25.5 bar:2011 from:start till:26 text:26 bar:2012 from:start till:171 text:171 bar:2013 from:start till:171 text:171 bar:2014 from:start till:171 text:171 bar:2015 from:start till:185 text:185 bar:2016 from:start till:185 text:185 bar:2017 from:start till:185 text:185 bar:2018 from:start till:185 text:185 bar:2019 from:start till:214 text:214 bar:2020 from:start till:214 text:214
|
| Megawatts of Wind Capacity [22] | |
See also
External links
Notes and References
- http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/newengland/history_windfarms.asp Historic Wind Development in New England
- News: 33 turbines would dot Coos ridges . Conaboy . Chelsea . September 17, 2008 . . May 17, 2009 .
- Web site: Granite Reliable Power Windpark, NH . Our Windparks . Noble Environmental Power . September 24, 2011 .
- http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/filter_detail.asp?itemid=3324 Department of Energy Finalizes $169 Million Loan Guarantee to Granite Reliable Power: A Wind Powering America Success Story
- http://www.iberdrolarenewables.us/groton.html Groton Wind Farm
- http://www.laconiadailysun.com/index.php/newsx/local-news/2146-electric-service-lines-in-plymouth-area-being-upgraded Electric service lines in Plymouth area being upgraded
- https://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/antrim-wind-project-complete/article_0ec3b7f1-7a67-514a-b7d5-0cd79edb84f5.html Ledger Transcript: "Antrim wind project complete"
- http://www.nhpr.org/post/antrim-wind-farm-gets-thumbs-down-sec Antrim Wind Farm Gets Thumbs Down From SEC
- Web site: Vermont utils to buy wind power from New Hampshire . . https://web.archive.org/web/20190425123137/https://www.reuters.com/article/utilities-operations-vermont-wind-idUSN2019488420100520 . 2019-04-25 . live .
- http://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/state/sales_annual.xls Retail Sales of Electricity by State
- http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/nhtoc/nhtoc-xii-162-h.htm#h7 Energy Facility Evaluation, Siting, Construction and Operation
- News: Lempster's big blow: One year later . Fleisher . Chris . October 11, 2009 . . October 14, 2009 .
- http://citythattreesbuilt.com/index.php?view=article&catid=1:new-news&id=34:state-to-suspend-action-on-wind-farm-application&format=pdf State to suspend action on wind farm application
- Web site: Granite Reliable . . September 24, 2011 .
- Coos County Wind Project Would Create 550 Jobs, Contribute $40.6M to Economy . April 15, 2009 . University of New Hampshire (UNH) . September 24, 2011 .
- http://www.iberdrolarenewables.us/groton/pdf/executive-summary-032610.pdf Groton Wind
- http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/230533/wind-project-gets-deadline-extension Wind project gets deadline extension
- http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120715/NEWS02/707159943 Wind farm makes presence known
- http://iberdrolarenewables.us/cs_groton.html iberdrola renewables - groton wind
- Web site: Jericho Mountain (USA) - Wind farms - Online access - the Wind Power.
- https://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/antrim-wind-project-complete/article_0ec3b7f1-7a67-514a-b7d5-0cd79edb84f5.html Ledger Transcript 2 Feb. 2020 "Andrim wind project complete"
- https://windexchange.energy.gov/maps-data/321 WINDExchange: U.S. Installed and Potential Wind Power Capacity and Generation
