Balancing economic, esthetic and environmental concerns

By Wiley Wood

Discussions are reportedly underway between a Norfolk landowner and BNE Energy, Inc., a company that built two wind turbines in Colebrook, to erect as many as four more turbines along Route 44.

At their recent monthly meeting, the Northwestern Connecticut Sportsmen’s Association heard a presentation by a representative of BNE Energy on the possibility of siting new turbines on the association’s land, according to an unnamed Colebrook resident who spoke to Colebrook First Selectman Tom McKeon.

The association, which has owned a small plot of land in Norfolk since 1985, bought an adjoining 108-acre parcel of forest land on Tim O’Connor Road, the former Domato property, in January of this year. It also owns 74 acres of forest on Beckley Road and adjoining land across the Colebrook border.

The hub of this turbine in Colebrook sits 328 ft off the ground, and each of the blades is 168 ft long.

The two wind turbines that began operating on Flagg Hill in Colebrook in 2015, each rated at 2.5 megawatts, were built over strenuous opposition from local advocacy groups and abutting landowners. Approval was granted by the Connecticut Siting Council, whose authority supersedes the town’s.

First Selectman Matt Riiska reacted to the possibility of new turbines, which he’d heard about directly from McKeon, in measured terms. “I’m not opposed to it,” he said, citing the environmental benefits of wind energy and the need to lessen the economy’s dependence on fossil fuels. At the same time, Riiska sympathizes with people who are against it: “It’s this big mechanical thing sitting out in plain sight. With six of them, it would be almost industrial-looking.”

As someone who struggles putting together the town budget, however, Riiska also has to consider the economic effect. “It would obviously be revenue for the town,” he said.

The two turbines in Colebrook currently have an assessed value of $9.7 million, making Wind Colebrook South, a spin-off of BNE Energy, the town’s second largest taxpayer, with a tax bill this year of $286,000. Assessor Michele Sloane cautions that Wind Colebrook South has challenged the assessment in court, where the case is still in pre-trial after two years. “These values could be overturned by the court’s decision,” says Sloane. Despite the tax appeal, the company is up-to-date on its payments, according to McKeon.

Doubts about whether BNE Energy could really be planning to build four more turbines were raised by Joyce Hemingson of FairWindCT, a citizen’s group. She points out that last year, BNE Energy petitioned for a 25 percent rate increase for the energy generated by the Flagg Hill turbines, from 20 cents per kWh to 25 cents per kWh, citing “considerably lower revenue and substantially higher capital costs and operating costs” as its reason. Eversource Energy, which signed a power purchase agreement with BNE in 2013 at the 20-cent rate, strongly objected to the increase, noting that “the 20-cent rate is already double the current rate of approximately 9-10 cents.” The Power Utility Regulatory Authority, apparently siding with Eversource, took no action on the petition.

Riiska has been independently looking for ways to use the 145-acre town farm to generate renewable energy. It is the site of the transfer station and the old landfill, but much of the area is unused open field. Riiska is weighing forming an energy committee to look at the feasibility of putting solar panels at the town farm and on town buildings as well as to work out the advisability of industrial wind turbines.

“We need to look seriously at the environmental and revenue issues,” says Riiska.