HomeMy WebLinkAbout01262012 Energy Study Committee MinutesMinutes for The ESC Subcommittee on Wind Turbine Risk Assessment meeting on
January 26th., 1.00 pm, Conference Rm., 2 Fairgrounds Rd.
Next scheduled meeting January 31st., 2012, 1.30 pm, Conference Rm., 2 Fairgrounds
Rd.
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Peter Morrison at 1.35 pm. In attendance
were subcommittee members Peter Morrison, Whitey Willauer, John Stover, Ken
Blackshaw and Ian Golding. David Worth was on speaker phone. Also present were
Selectmen Rick Atherton and Bobby DeCosta, Jason Graziadei from the Inquirer and
Mirror, Frank Kaminsky, and Trevor and Mary Lockley.
The minutes from the meeting of January 20th. were adopted. Concerns were raised
that the construction costs weren’t sufficiently detailed. The politics of the conditions
attached to net metering were discussed. The accuracy of the data used for wind speed
was revisited, running costs and data from other wind turbines was introduced. Price
variability and long-term predictions were considered. Potential downside risk, and how
to cover it, was brought up, as were the implications of a third cable and how financial
calculations would differ depending on whether equity or bond financing, leveraged or
not, was chosen. The subject of climate change and carbon neutrality were raised as
being potential factors that might influence voters’ decisions at ATM, and it was agreed
that a range of estimates and probable outcomes were necessary.
The meeting was adjourned at 3.17 pm.
Respectfully submitted by Ian Golding