March 1, 2010
By Thor Jourgensen/The Daily Item

A proposal to build a 254-foot-tall wind turbine next to the sewage treatment plant must be reviewed against the overall vision for the waterfront, says the city’s top development official.

Economic Development and Industrial Corporation Director James Cowdell said the turbine project will probably be reviewed by the Waterfront Site Plan Review Committee headed by City Council President Timothy Phelan.

“We will be looking for how it fits into development of the waterfront: Would it adversely affect future development?” Cowdell said Friday.

Photo illustration of proposed location of waterfront wind turbine in Lynn. (Courtesy Photo)

Nearly seven years after former City Councilor at large Loretta Cuffe O’Donnell first proposed its construction, the wind turbine is nearing the design and construction stage even as major waterfront revival planning accelerates.

Power lines long considered to be the major obstacle to development near the General Edwards Bridge will be moved beginning three weeks from today. The relocation frees up 100 waterfront acres for development.

The Water and Sewer Commission has obtained state and federal permits to build the turbine. Now it needs a council special permit before construction bids are solicited. Plans call for building the windmill-like tower near the waste water treatment plant complex between the Lynnway and the waterfront.

Construction work will take a year and cost about $3 million, according to Water Treatment Plant Operations Director Robert Tina, who said the turbine will be similar in size to the Chelsea turbine visible from Revere.

With their giant carbon fiber blades and tapered towers, windmills are cropping up across the state. Salem is reviewing proposals to build two; one constructed in Chelsea is visible from Revere and others are planned on Cape Cod.

“Turbines are coming up all around us. We don’t want to be known as a ‘non-Green’ community,” Tina said.

Tina said commission studies concluded the turbine tower, which would be 100 feet shorter than the Wayne Alarm tower on Essex Street, could eliminate 2,000 tons of carbon emissions annually. The turbine’s blades would be turned by winds averaging 13 miles an hour.

Water and Sewer’s turbine will cost about $2.5 million to $3 million with the foundation representing one of the project’s major expenses. Contractors must bore 150-foot-deep pilings into loose soil along the waterfront and build a concrete pad to provide a stable footing for the turbine.

The turbine and its giant blades will convert wind energy into electricity that will be used solely by Water and Sewer. Tina estimates wind energy will cut the commission’s $1.7 million annual electricity bill by one-quarter to one-third.

“It helps us stabilize (Water and Sewer) rates in the future,” said Tina.

Water and Sewer has received a $600,000 Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust grant to reduce construction costs.