PMLD commissioners agree to sell wind turbines 

Rather than try to refinance the $7 million wind turbine project, light department manager Brian Allen has asked light commissioners to explore the possibility of selling the turbines.

At the Oct. 10 commissioner’s meeting, Allen said it would cost approximately $10,000 to refinance the project. “I’d recommend to the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Municipal Light Department Wind Energy Cooperative Corporation that they hire a broker and explore the possibility of selling the two wind turbine generators and that the Cooperative issue a request for proposals,” said Allen.

“Legally we have no jurisdiction,” said Allen. “PMLD legally doesn’t own the turbines. The Cooperative does. Ron DeCurzio, myself and commissioner Scott Bigelow are on the board,” said Allen. “So our votes count.”

Allen said PMLD isn’t interested in selling the land the turbines are on, only the area of the turbine footprint. They also aren’t talking about removing them from the site, he added. They want to sell them for enough to cover the entire loan, said Allen.

“We don’t have the resource or the money to maintain these turbines. We’d sell them and buy a portion of the power they produce. We own the whole cow and use only the milk,” said Allen. By selling the turbines, they become someone else’s responsibility, said Allen.

Industry wide, gearboxes are an issue, said Allen. PMLD has put a monitoring system in place to keep an eye on the turbine operation. “My concern isn’t whether we can pay the loan; my concern is the maintenance of the turbines,’’ said Allen.

Allen appeared on Fox 25 news in Boston on Oct. 4 with reporter Mike Beaudet to discuss wind turbines and the problems involved with wind energy. Princeton isn’t the only turbine owner facing financial problems due to wind turbines.

A windmill in Chelsea hasn’t run for three years and another owned by the MWRA in Charlestown was out of commission for months due to a foundation problem and had to be rebuilt. Two turbines completed in March 2011 at the state prison in Gardner aren’t working.

Princeton’s $7.3 million wind turbine project has resulted in a $1.8 million loss to the town so far, according to Allen. Part of that cost was due to the failure of the gearbox in one turbine that resulted in it being out of service for 11 months before it was repaired.

For PMLD the budget is $3 million in and $3 million out, said Allen. “The turbines are too big for us to handle. We could lease the property for approximately $3,000 per year per machine. We had a warranty issue which led to 11 months of negotiation before the gearbox was repaired. If we were to lose a gearbox today it would be a big problem.”

Fuhrlaender, the firm PMLD purchased the wind turbines from, recently declared bankruptcy. “I think it’s a very big mistake for this utility to own them, it would be beneficial to the utility to sell them. It’s an asset that has turned into a liability. We don’t have the resources to keep putting money into these things.”

“We need to dig our way out of this mess,” said commissioner Scott Bigelow.

Allen said he has a broker working for PMLD to find a buyer for the wind turbines. “These brokers are pretty good at what they do,” he said. According to Allen there are people interested in purchasing turbines.

In other business, Allen reported that photographs taken in Germany, at the lab where the gearbox has been autopsied in an effort to determine the cause of its failure, clearly show the the wrong size part was put in the turbine. “It’s a different size than the other one, so I’ve crossed over from being 95 percent sure it was a manufacturer error to being 100 percent sure,” he added. The insurance company has the information and now it’s a matter of process, said Allen.

Allen said that Fuhrlaender turbines, two in Michigan and one in Canada, have failed but not the ones in Europe, so the company will probably stay in business.