Tri-Town_ORR_Preliminary_Site_Analysis

Wind Power in Mattapoisett, Marion & Rochester:
Siting Considerations for a Met Tower
and Fatal Flaws Analysis for a Wind Turbine
This report was funded by the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust’s Community Wind
Collaborative on behalf of the towns of Mattapoisett, Marion & Rochester. It was prepared by Sally
Wright and Lynn Di Tullio of the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory at the University of
Massachusetts.
Table of contents
1. Introduction
2. Sites Considered
3. Predicted Wind Resource
4. Wind Turbine Siting Considerations and Fatal Flaws analysis
5. Anemometry Siting Considerations
6. Anemometry Installation Logistics
7. Conclusion & Next Steps
Locator Map
X
Mattapoisett

1. Introduction
At the request of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s Renewable Energy Trust, Sally Wright
and Lynn Di Tullio of the UMass Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (RERL) visited potential
wind turbine and/or wind monitoring sites in Mattapoisett, Marion, and Rochester, along with
representatives of the towns. This report focuses on the siting considerations for wind-monitoring towers
(“met towers”) as well as some of the logistics for met tower installation. Additionally, it takes into
consideration logistical considerations in a broad “fatal flaw” analysis for potential wind turbine
installations. This report is not intended as and should not be considered a wind turbine siting study.
Section 2 begins by describing the sites that are under consideration for a met tower and/or wind turbine,
and subsequent sections look for positive and negative indicators of their suitability.
Section 3 describes the predicted wind resources for these sites. If a site weren’t expected to have good
wind, it would not be considered further.
Section 4 then looks for fatal flaws for wind turbines at the sites.
Sections 5 and 6 look at the possibility of installing a met tower at these sites.
Section 7 summarizes major concerns and suggests next steps.
For more background information
This document assumes some familiarity with wind resource assessment, wind power siting, and other
issues that arise with wind power technology on a community scale. For an introduction to these areas,
please refer to RERL’s Community Wind Fact Sheets, which are available on the web at:
http://www.ceere.org/rerl/about_wind/. These sheets include information on the following subjects:
• Wind Technology Today
• Performance, Integration, & Economics
• Capacity Factor, Intermittency, and what happens when the wind doesn't blow?
• Impacts & Issues
• Siting in Communities
• Resource Assessment
• Interpreting Your Wind Resource Data
• Permitting in Your Community
Use of this report
This engineering report is intended to be used in consultation with MTC as the town explores its options
for participation in MTC’s Community Wind Collaborative.

2. Sites considered
Town representatives suggested eight locations for consideration. They are listed in the table below.
Several sites were eliminated from consideration for a met tower for technical reasons: lack of access,
proximity to residences, or firm ground.
# Site Notes Consider further?
1 Brandt Island Road Town Land Flat, forested land on Buzzard’s Bay Yes
2 Old Rochester Regional (ORR)
High School, Marion &
Rochester
3 Marion Wastewater Treatment
Plant
Flat, forested land off playing fields Yes
Inland, lower predicted wind speeds Yes
4 Mattapoisett Neck Rd. Marshy; residential area No
5 Ned’s Point Close to a residence No
6 Angelica Point No road access to end of point;
unsuitable for standard anchors
7 Strawberry Point No road access No
8 Mattapoisett Landfill Inland – insufficient winds, unstable
base
The town-owned land on Brandt Island Road and Mattapoisett landfill sites were not toured on this site
visit.
Only three sites will be considered further in this report:
A. Town Land off Brandt Island Road
B. Old Rochester Regional (ORR) High School
C. Marion WWTP
Note that turbines and met towers have different siting requirements; ruling a site out for a met tower
does not necessarily rule it out for a wind turbine.
Following is a listing of site characteristics for these three locations. Also included are maps and
photographs for the sites.
No
No

Site characteristics
Site: A. Brandt Island
Road Town Land
Description Mostly undeveloped,
forested town-owned
land near the coast of
Buzzards Bay.
Address Mattapoisett, MA
02066
B. High School C. WWTP
Flat forested land off
playing fields
135 Marion Road,
Mattapoisett, MA 02066
Owner Town of Mattapoisett Tri Towns: Marion,
Mattapoisett & Rochester
Location (NAD 27 UTM
19)
Location (NAD 83, D-M-S) 41° 37' 51"N, 70° 49'
59"W
Wastewater Treatment
plant. Proposed met tower
site is currently used for
storage of DPW materials
50 Benson Brook Road
Marion, MA 02738
Town of Marion
347258E 4610196N 351570E 4615205N 352106E 4618098N
41° 40' 36"N, 70° 46'
57.5"W
GPS Point No.: None 237 238
Power lines or other
obstructions to met tower.
(Met tower must be set at least 1.5
x the tower height away from
power lines.)
Clearing, terrain, obstacles
to wind
Road Access -for met tower
installation
Soil quality-for met tower
anchors
Ok Ok Ok
50-60’ trees.
Will require clearing
None seen, but not far
from the road.
50-60’ trees
Will require clearing
Good Good
OK OK OK
Security: Unknown Possibility of vandalism
related to high school.
Distance to Distribution/
Transmission lines
OK OK OK
41° 42' 10.2"N, 70° 46'
36.9"W
Some trees and other
debris.
Will require clearing
Locked Gate - could
prevent vehicle access at
night
On-site electrical loads None OK Good - WWTP
Public or military airports
within 5 miles
Nearby residential areas: Houses at most 650 feet
away, depending on
siting
None None None
Houses 2040+ feet to east House 1300 feet to east

Maps:
Base map source: Ortho-photograph from MassGIS website, http://www.mass.gov/mgis/dwn-imgs.htm
Brand Island Rd.
Map
1: Ortho-photograph of the Brandt Island Road area. One possible turbine location, away from
Brandt Beach Avenue residences, is marked with an X

Map 2: Orthophotograph of the high school area, with the proposed met tower location marked with an
X

Map 3: Orthophotograph of the wastewater treatment plant

Map 4: Portion of an Assessors Plan of the Town of Mattapoisett, showing the town-owned parcel
number 6, to the east of Brandt Island Road, with frontage on Brandt Island Road

Map 4: Estimated annual average wind speed at a height of 70 meters
Approximate locations under discussion are marked with yellow crosses.
Sites
of primary interest for wind power have a mean wind speed of 6.5 m/s or over, i.e. shown in dark
green, pink or orange.
For more information, see TrueWind Solutions, truewind.teamcamelot.com/ne/.

Photos
View of site just off playing field at ORR High School, looking approximately north:
Above left: view of site near wastewater treatment plant, looking south.
Above right: view of wastewater treatment
plant area, looking about west.
No photographs were taken of the Brandt Island Road town parcel.

3. Predicted
Wind Resource
TrueWind estimates of annual average wind speed
According to the modeled wind speeds in the TrueWind map included on the first section of this report,
predicted annual average wind speeds are as follows:
Estimated
annual average
wind speeds
At a height of
70 m
A. Brandt Island Road
Town Land
B. High School C. WWTP
6.7 m/s (14.9 mph) 6.4 m/s (14.3 mph) 6.1 m/s (13.7 mph)
These TrueWind estimates are used for screening and do not eliminate the need for site-specific
anemometry.
The importance of wind speed
The feasibility of wind power depends on many factors. One of the most important factors is wind
speed. The power in wind is related to its speed, and small changes or inaccuracies in wind speed can
mean big changes in annual energy production. The chart below demonstrates the impact of mean wind
speed on wind turbine output at the sites under consideration. Note that both axes of this graph, wind
speeds and the annual energy, are estimates.

Other available wind data
RERL has not maintained any anemometry
in this immediate area. The nearest RERL anemometers are:
Falmouth (~10 miles), Dartmouth (~12 miles), and Bourne
(~12 miles). Data from these anemometers
are available at: http://www.ceere.org/rerl/rerl_resourcedata.htm l.
Obstacles to wind flow
Obstacles
cause both turbulence and slowing of the wind. These are important factors in site selection
for a wind turbine because they affect the power production and the longevity of a wind turbine.
A. Brandt Island Road
Town Land
B. ORR High School C. WWTP
Obstacles to wind Wooded, 50-60’ tall trees Wooded, 50-60’ tall. The Brush, 40-50’ tall trees;
flow: high school and
surrounding trees will
cause some turbulence.
WWTP building.
The land surrounding all three sites is largely wooded or built-up; this roughness increases turbulence.
Proximity of anemometry & turbine
Note that while wind resource assessment directly on the proposed wind turbine site is preferred, it is not
always possible. If wind data are gathered in one spot, but a site for a wind turbine is later chosen in
another nearby location, then a computer model
that considers the wind data and terrain can be used to
extrapolate the data from one location to the other. However, as the two sites become farther apart, the
level of certainty in the data goes down, and thus the amount of risk in the investment goes up. It is
difficult to predict the rate at which the certainty changes with distance, and can only be estimated on a
site-specific basis.
Although the sites under consideration are in similar landscapes, they are over a mile away from each
other. Measurement at one site would not confidently be used to evaluate the feasibility of a turbine at
the other.
Conclusion: Appropriateness of resource assessment
The Tri-town area encompassing Mattapoisett, Marion, and Rochester has estimated wind speeds near
the shoreline that would be acceptable for the use in a megawatt-scale wind project.
If the towns have interest in pursuing a wind energy project, wind resource assessment is recommended.
The remainder of this report will look at preliminary siting logistics for wind turbines and met towers at
and around these sites.

4. Wind Turbine Siting Considerations
Purpose of this section
As mentioned in the previous section, it is important to try to measure the wind as close to a potential
wind turbine site as possible.
Therefore turbine-siting criteria should be taken into consideration when
siting a wind resource monitoring. The purpose of this section is to consider whether there are any “fatal
flaws” to siting a wind turbine in the general areas under discussion.
We
stress that a site for a wind turbine has not yet been considered in any depth and siting of a wind
turbine
is not the intended purpose of this report. Rather, this section is intended to inform the decision
of where to measure the
wind.
Furthermore, a scale of wind turbine has not been chosen. For the purposes of this discussion, it is
assumed that a commercial-scale (660 – 1,800 k W) wind turbine will be chosen.
Transportation accessibility for turbine installation
With blades up to 130 feet long, modern wind turbines require transportation on roads with a fairly large
turning radius and only small changes in slope.
Some of the roads leading to the Brandt Island Road parcel in particular are narrow residential roads.
Careful route planning will be necessary. However, site access does not appear to be a fatal flaw for any
of the sites.
In-site access issues
Note that the Brandt Island Road parcel only has road frontage on the far northern edge. If no access
were possible across private property on the western boundary (example shown below in blue), an
access road of about 1600 feet would need to be built in from the north (example shown in pink).
X
Example
of possible
turbine site

Distance to distribution or transmission lines for power distribution:
Distribution lines come on-site
at the school and at the WWTP. Distribution lines are further away from
the Town Land met tower location. A point of interconnection would be determined later in the project.
Noise
Noise considerations generally take two forms, state regulatory compliance and nuisance levels at
nearby residences:
A. Regulatory compliance: Massachusetts state regulations do not allow a rise of 10 dB or
greater above background
levels at a property boundary (Massachusetts Air Pollution Control
Regulations, Regulation 310 CMR 7.10). This sound level is very unlikely to be a reached in any
case at the sites we examined.
B. Human annoyance: Aside from Massachusetts regulations,
residences must also be taken into
consideration. Any eventual turbine would be sited such that it would be inaudible or minimally
audible at the nearest residences. At this stage, to check for “fatal flaws,” a rule of thumb can be
used: to minimize possible noise impacts, site wind turbines at least three times the blade tip
height from residences. Distances from mixed-use areas may be somewhat shorter.
Noise will not be an issue for siting a wind turbine at the ORR High School or the Marion WWTP.
However, noise
will be a primary siting constraint for the Brandt Island Road site because much of the
parcel is less than 800 feet
wide, and there are residences to the western side of the parcel. Consideration
of the neighbors will be an important factor in siting a wind turbine on this parcel of town land. Given a
specific size and make of turbine, suggested setbacks from residences can be proposed to eliminate or
minimize the audibility at the neighbors. This would then inform the exact siting of a turbine.
For example, a Vestas V47 on a 50-meter tower has a 241-foot blade-tip, and would need to be sited
on
the far eastern side of the parcel, to be three times the blade-tip height (723 feet) from the neighbors on
the western edge.
Nearby Airports
There are no public or military airports within 5 miles, so airspace will not be an important siting issue.
The nearest airports are:
• New Bedford Regional Airport: ~6 miles
• Acushnet River Seaplane Base, Fairhaven, ~4 miles
• Island Air Service Seaplane Base, Rochester, ~7 miles
• Otis Air National Guard Base, ~12 miles
The FAA requires that any structure over 200’ be lit. Any com mercial-scale turbine will be lit.
A Form 7460-1 (Notice Of Proposed Construction Or Alteration) must be sent
to the FAA for any
proposed wind turbine installation over 200 feet (to blade-tip). Any concerns of airport personnel and
other air safety regulators would be considered as part of the turbine siting process.

Other
environmental or permitting issues
The following items are favorable for this site:
Notes:
Item to check:
A. Brandt
Island Road
Town Land
B. ORR High
School
Designated by the DEP as Wetlands? No Some wetlands in
this area but they
can be avoided
Designated by the Natural Heritage &
Endangered Species Program as a:
• Core Habitat
• Priority Habitat of Rare Species, or
• Certified Vernal Pool?
No
No
Designated by the Massachusetts
Audubon Society as an Important Bird
Area (IBA)?
For more on Core Habitat C1297 in Marion, see:
http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/twnrpts/marion_core_habitats.pdf
No
No
C. WWTP
No
Core Habitat
(see below)
There are two Mass Audubon IBA’s in the Buzzard’s Bay region: Bird Island and Ram Island, located
just offshore the western shoreline of Buzzards Bay.
The Marion Waste Water Treatment plant is in Core Habitat C1297 as designated by the Natural
Heritage & Endangered Species Program. The Core Habitat includes most of this area between Route 6
and Route 195.
Conclusion: At this preliminary
stage, there is no indication of significant environmentally based
permitting hurdles
for these sites.
No

Conclusion: Wind turbine siting
No fatal flaws to siting a wind turbine in the Tri-town
area are apparent. However, at the Brandt Island
Road Town parcel, constrained space would limit the number, size and siting of tur bines.
The two inland sites are expected
to have lower wind speeds, making
the Brandt Island Road area more
favorable. A comparison of important characteristics that affect project feasibility is summarized here:
Factor Site Brandt Island
characteristic Road Town
Land
High School WWTP
Wind speed: Predicted wind Good
Lower than
resource
typically desired
for the Community
Wind Collaborative
Number
of
turbines:
Available space Constrained
in size
& location
–
probably space for
only one turbine,
no bigger than
Hull’s V47
Value of power On-site None OK
produced electrical loads
Interconnection Distance to Ok
cost Transmission
/distribution
lines
Conclusion: influence on siting of wind resource monitoring
Sufficient Sufficient
Ok Ok
Lower
than
typically desired
for the Community
Wind Collaborative
Good – WWTP
Since the sites are not close enough together to share monitoring, a decision should be made on a turbine
site before choosing a met tower site. In other words, the met tower should be installed at the preferred
turbine site.

5. Choice of site for wind monitoring
Traditionally, wind is monitored for about a year with a met tower. Some sites may be suitable
for other
types of monitoring in addition to or even instead of a met tower. This section will concentrate on the
siting of a met tower, but will also discuss other monitoring options.
About
met towers
The met towers used by RERL
are temporary structures that
do
not
require a foundation and are supported
by
guy wires in 4
directions. Towers are usually 40 meters (131’) or 50 meters
(164’) tall. In most cases, standard utility anchors are used to
anchor the guy wires. The number and type of anchors required
depends on the particular site. They will be proof-tested at
installation to make sure they can hold enough load.
The tower is raised using a winch; no crane is required. It consists of a set of 6” diameter pipes that stack together; the whole set-up
can be brought in on a pick-up truck.
The pictures on this page give an idea of what this equipment
looks like.
Gin
Pole
Met
Tower
A met tower in the process of being raised.
The “gin pole” gives the winch leverage to lift
the tower.
RERL’s truck loaded with the sections of a 50-meter
met tower
A met tower base-plate
Typical 6-foot-long utility anchor
An anchor, installed, with 2 guy
wires attached

Space required for a met tower in general
Clearing is necessary both for met tower installation
and to reduce ground effect disturbance during data
collection. The cleared area is shaped like a circle for the guy wires, with an additional “wedge” in
which the tower is assembled before raising. The minimum cleared areas for guyed towers are:
Tower Height Minimum D Minimum L Total Envelope
(Guy Diam.)
(Space to lay the
tower down)
40 meter (131’) 160 feet 135 feet 215 x 160 feet
50 meter (164’) 240 feet 165 feet 285 x 240 feet
Dimensions of a football field, for comparison: 300 x 160 feet
In general, a larger cleared area reduces the disturbances seen by the instruments,
and improves data quality. Therefore, a cleared area larger than the minimum size
is preferred.
While it is not necessary to pull stumps, removing as much obstruction
and underbrush as possible will
facilitate the raising of the tower. Guy- wires will be pulled across this field, and any obstacles that
entangle the wires make the job more difficult.
It is also essential that there not be any electric or telephone wires within 1.5 times
the height of the
tower,
i.e. 200 feet of a 40 m tower, or 250 feet of a 50 m tower.
Trees must be cleared at least the height of the trees away from the anchors to eliminate the danger of a
fa lling tree hitting the guys. For
example, a 50-foot-tall tree within less than 50 feet of an anchor must
be cut down.
Note that it is possible to use some
of this cleared area after the met tower has been installed; in other
words,
after installation, the space is left largely open.
Space
availability at the Tri-town sites
Tree clearing will be needed in all cases:
Brandt Island Road
Town Land
High School WWTP
Space availability There appears to be There appears to be
for met towers sufficient level area for a sufficient level area for a
50-meter met tower. 50-meter met tower.
Accessibility for met tower installation
The sites are easily reachable by RERL’s pick-up truck.
Depending on how
much space can be
cleared, this area may fit
a 40 or 50-meter tower.
The power lines on the
access road to the north
and the wetlands to the
east will be constraints.

Nearby Airports & FAA restrictions for met
towers
RERL’s met towers are shorter than 200 feet and do not require registration with the FAA.
Lighting
T he FAA does not require met tower lighting at these sites. The Renewable Energy Trust recommends
FAA lighting of met towers even if not required by the FAA.
If the town opts for lighting, either a source
of 120 VAC power
or sufficient photovoltaic panels and
batteries will be needed as an energy sourc
e for the light.
Distance to power line s (for met tower lighting if used)
If the town opts for lighting, 120 VAC power is close enough in the case of the High School and the
WWTP, that we recommend wiring be run to the met tower bas e. In the case of the Brandt Island Road
town land, unless the town can provide AC power, RERL will install photovoltaics and batteries.
Soil quality & Anchor requirements
Soil quality &
Anchor
requirements
Brandt Island Road
Town Land
Expected to be
acceptable
High School WWTP
Expected to be
acceptable
Expected to be
acceptable
RERL’s standard anchors may be adequate or larger anchors may be required. This will be tested on the
site.
Met tower Size Recommendation:
RERL uses two sizes of met towers, 40-meter and 50-meter,
depending on the site. Because all these
sites are forested, 50-meter towers are recommended:
Brandt Island Road
Town Land
High School WWTP
Met Tower Height 50 meter 50 meter
50-meter
is
recommended
but 40-
meter
may be adequate
if there is insufficient
room.

Summary
The relative merits of the sites for met towers are summarized below. All the sites are adequate
for met
tower installation.
Brandt Island Road
Town Land
High School WWTP
Ease of installation Level site. Can Level site; can
probably use standard probably use standard
anchors anchors
Clearing Trees will need to be
removed
Trees will need to be
removed
Security Unknown Possibly a danger of
vandalism
Predicted wind
resource
Good Lower than typically
desired for the
Community Wind
Collaborative
Conclusion: met tower siting recommendations
Site needs cleanup and
some leveling
Some brush and trees
will need to be
removed, plus debris
Fenced-in site
Lower than typically
desired for the
Community Wind
Collaborative
As pointed
out in the previous section, the met tower should be installed at the preferred turbine site.
To participate in MTC’s Community Wind
Collaborative, the tri-town region should choose the site in
consultation with MTC in order to ensure
the site fits the Collaborative’s criteria.

6. Anemometry Installation Logistics
Site Owner Responsibilities
RERL
is pleased to offer wind-monitoring services to the town through the Trust’s Community Wind
Collaborative. If the site is eligible for MTC’s Com munity Wind Collaborative, and the
monitoring
effort moves forward, the town’s in-kind assistance will be needed in several aspects of installing a met
tower. The host town (Mattapoisett or Marion) would be responsible for security, some
minor
maintenance, insurance, and permitting. They are described
as follows:
Security
T he security of the loaned monitoring equipmen t is the responsibility of the town. The town is expected
to protect the site to its satisfaction – e.g. by installing a fence around the tower base if this seems
necessary. If the site manager prefers, RERL can place the logger high enough up the pole that a ladder
is required to reach it. Additionally, if PV panels were needed for FAA lighting, these would be located
near the base of the met tower.
Maintenance
Met towers have data loggers mounted at the base, to collect the wind data. The data loggers require
that a memory card be periodically swapped and mailed back to RERL. Additionally, the person
replacing the card would look at the tower and report anything unusual to RERL. A designated town
representative
(or representatives) will be trained in these simple operations at the time of installation.
Liability and Insurance
The RERL loans industry-standard wind-monitoring equipment under a standard loan agreement. The
form can be found at http://www.ceere.org/rerl/projects/support/weps/agreement.pdf or contact RERL
for a copy.
The Trust requires that the site owner carry liability insurance for the met tower and name the Trust as
an insured party. This requirement is described in the loan agreement.
Permitting: Local approval process
RERL will support the site owner in obtaining any necessary local permits for the temporary monitoring
tower (e.g. building permits or zoning variances.)
In-kind labor
In-kind labor has been discussed above, in this section. Additionally, the town would do any clearing
needed.
If lighting wiring is required (see notes on FAA lighting above), this is provided by the town.
Weather
The met tower cannot be installed in strong winds, rain, or snow. Additionally, the anchors must be
installed before the ground is frozen in order to be properly proof tested.
Note that weather-dependence can make the planning of the project somewhat difficult. Typically RERL
sets aside a one- to two-week period ahead of time, then chooses the exact days within this window, just
a day or two in advance.

Conclusion: Timing & sequence of events
Met tower installation can proceed when:
1. The Trust approves
the town as a candidate for further community wind assistance
2. The town chooses a location that is acceptable to RERL and Trust.
3. The site owner secures required permits, if any,
4. A loan agreement (http://www.ceere.org/rerl/projects/support/weps/agreement.p df)
is
signed and returned to the RERL, and insurance coverage is confirmed,
5. Anchoring systems have been designed, installed and tested, and,
6. The RERL can schedule a work-crew, equipment – and of course good weather!

7. Conclusions and Next Steps
The Tri-town area
has a parcel of town-owned land in Mattapoisett that is predicted to have winds
sufficient to install a commercial-scale wind turbine. Other town-owned parcels were examined as well.
If the Tri-town area as a group, or the town of Mattapoisett, is interested in pursuing land-based wind
power for municipal use, representatives should confirm their interest
to the Trust.
If project fits within
the Trust’s program, the Trust could then authorize RERL to proceed with wind
resource assessment services. In that case, the following steps are recommended for installation
of a met
tower:
• Consider
a wind turbine site: While a met tower does not have to be at the exact location
of
an eventual
turbine, the choice of turbine site must inform the met tower site.
The Brandt Island Road parcel has better predicted winds, while the High School site has
more space and an electrical load.
• Agree on a met tower site: This should be at or near the wind turbine site under
consideration.
• Met tower size recommendation: a 50-meter tower should be used to better understand the
higher winds and the wind shear in this forested area.
• Permits: determine if any local permits (e.g. building, zoning, etc.) are required for the
temporary met tower. If so, acquire those permits.
• Preparing for the met tower: Sufficient area will need to be cleared at the chosen site. Work
with RERL to mark and clear a site.