Blackburn Industrial Park (Wind Turbines)

The three wind turbines in the City of Gloucester are visible across the North Shore region. The city committed to two wind turbines in the Blackburn Industrial Park in 2012 as a public-private partnership, reflecting Gloucester’s commitment to renewable energy.¹ The turbines were constructed by Equity Partners on City-owned forested property that is conserved for surface water recharge of the Babson Reservoir.² Gloucester receives a share of the revenue, as well as energy credits, from the energy sold to National Grid. Citizens can use the Gloucester Community Electricity Aggregation program to access renewable energy options.³

The turbines faced opposition at construction, and have been criticized for the amount of income they have generated. The turbines were projected to generate between $430,000 and $450,000 in energy credits or revenue, but they have generated roughly $250,000 annually since they were first installed, with a 34% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions compared to other forms of electricity generation. The turbines have not received the expected number of kilowatt hours due to lower wind speeds than were originally projected.⁴

While turbines mitigate climate change, they generally have a life cycle of twenty years, with maintenance requirements every six months.⁵ The Blackburn Industrial Park turbines have an expected operational decade left before they will be decommissioned. The installation or removal of additional turbines will require changes to the landscape to provide access to the site. While off-shore wind turbines have been modeled to decrease wind speed and wave height in hurricanes, on- and off-shore turbines stop producing energy during high winds and lock and feather their blades to reduce the surface area pointing to the wind until the storm subsides.^{6 7} If the blades are damaged due to the high winds, they will not provide an alternative source of power in the aftermath of the Great Storm, when the regional electric grid is down.