Just a quick note to point out yesterday’s Globe story that reports the state (Commonwealth) of Massachusetts has proposed a bill that would ease the permitting process for wind projects in the state.
The bill has been proposed by the Governor’s office, which has conceded that without such permitting and process reform the Governor’s quest to reach 2,000 megawatts of wind power in the state by 2020 is virtually unattainable, according to the Globe story. With a current production rate of about seven megawatts, and project after project getting mired in legal wranglings, that seems to go without saying.
See a kind of synopsis of the bill here.
Without getting into the sometimes very emotional debate of turbine siting, nor the specific procedures of the bill, the very action of trying to streamline this process is a good thing. I am happy to see the state finally take a look at this, even if it means some sites will be denied more quickly, it could save developers time and money in project development, allowing them to allocate those resources to areas that may be more successful.
The fact is that Massachusetts is very short on natural resources when it comes to fossil fuels, and alternatives are going to have to be developed and grown in the state if it is to stay on the leading edge of both energy production and environmental responsibility.
What I don’t see included in the bill is a stipulation for ocean, wave or current driven power sources. A personal favorite of mine, I understand they are taking it one step at a time, and with the Cape Wind debacle the national and international identifier for the Massachusetts wind community, I can’t blame them for focusing on wind. However, I wish they put a little more forward thinking into it.
Ocean, wave and even river power may be a ways away, in terms of large-scale deployment, but developers of such technology are going to run into the same problems as wind developers, and it is going to take years to get the wording of this bill, which i assume will be the one that covers hydro-turbines, to include them, and that will be a loss.
