WINDHAM – For years, opponents of a wind-turbine development proposed in the towns of Windham and Grafton have complained that they have not received much solid information about the project.
That may change this month as a developer and landowner involved in the Stiles Brook proposal have teamed up to schedule public meetings in both towns. The sessions are to include discussion of a “preliminary draft study layout,” meaning that, for the first time, developer Iberdrola Renewables will show where windmills might be sited.
The meetings are scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 26 at Grafton Elementary School and 6 p.m. Oct. 27 at Windham Meeting House.
“Even though we just had meetings in June, we made a commitment to the communities of Grafton and Windham to update them with additional information as it becomes available,” Iberdrola spokesman Paul Copleman wrote in an email response to questions from VTDigger.org. “We have a preliminary draft study layout to share, so it is an appropriate time to communicate with the residents of the two towns.”
Iberdrola is an international developer of wind turbines, and Meadowsend Timberlands Ltd. owns Stiles Brook Forest. In 2012, the companies jointly announced plans to study wind resources at Stiles Brook. If a project goes forward, it would be the first large-scale, commercial wind-turbine site in Windham County.
Three meteorological-testing towers – two in Windham and one in Grafton – have been gathering data at Stiles Brook, but the results have not been conclusive. In September, the Vermont Public Service Board granted Iberdrola an additional two years to operate those towers.
There has been grassroots opposition to the project in Grafton as well as opposition at the town level in Windham, where the town plan bans such turbine developments. Last month, the nonprofit Grafton Woodlands Group – which opposes commercial wind power – opened a storefront office on Main Street in Grafton a short distance from a Meadowsend office.
“We had almost 60 people” at an open house held Sept. 25, said Liisa Kissel, a Grafton Woodlands Group director. “It was very well-attended.”
Project advocates have set up a website, www.stilesbrookforest.com, to get their own message out to local residents. Meadowsend and Iberdrola also have hosted site visits and several public meetings, and the meetings scheduled for later this month are billed as a project update.
Any official proposed turbine layouts would be news. Opponents have drawn up their own maps showing “potential tower locations” in relation to existing residences, camps, churches and schools, with tower sites estimated based on topography and general turbine-siting requirements. But neither Iberdrola nor Meadowsend has said where windmills might go.
“This would be the first time that they would be answering that question – how many turbines and where would they be,” Kissel said.
While Iberdrola will provide an answer to that question, Copleman was careful to say it may not be the final answer given that studies are ongoing at Stiles Brook. He noted that “the layout is a preliminary design and will help guide us and the state agencies with the environmental studies at the site.”
“There is still a lot we don’t know, as we’ve essentially just begun a series of field studies that help us better understand the environmental conditions on the site, determine the feasibility of a project, and the possible future locations of turbines, which could change over time from the map we share later this month,” Copleman wrote.
The meetings also are supposed to include talk of “potential economic benefits to the community.” While there has been past discussions about the financial benefits to towns that host wind facilities, there were no specific details released regarding Iberdrola’s latest economic proposals.
“We’re still assessing what’s feasible on the site, and that will take some time, but we’ll come (to the meetings) prepared to discuss a range of benefits based on what we’re studying at this time,” Copleman wrote.
