Tri-Town_ORR_Preliminary_Site_Analysis

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.