2007 All-America City Awarded to Barnstable, 
Green thumb, 'green' power for Hyannis Country Garden
Published on Monday, November 10, 2008
By Sarah Shemkus
sshemkus@capecodonline.com
November 06, 2008
HYANNIS — Diana Duffley was in Denmark when she first hatched the plan to install a wind turbine at Hyannis Country Garden, the Main Street garden center and nursery that she owns.
In 2004, Duffley traveled to Denmark with members of Clean Power Now to learn more about wind-generated energy. She went, she said, to see the offshore turbines.
"But along the way I saw land-based turbines for the first time," she said. "It seemed like every farm had one, two, even three — that was my spark."
Shortly thereafter, Duffley began the involved process of pursuing her own commercial wind project. And this week, after years filled with paperwork and permitting and public outreach, Duffley watched as workers began to erect a towering turbine at the back of the garden center property.
The 121-foot central pole went up on Monday and Tuesday.
Installation of the rotors was delayed yesterday when damage to two of the three blades was discovered. These components have been shipped back to Vermont for repair, postponing the project's completion for another two weeks, Duffley estimated.
Once the 100-kilowatt turbine is up and running, she said, it will be the largest commercial wind installation on the Cape.
"We're very proud of that," she said, "and we hope that other businesses will follow our lead."
The total bill for the project now tops $470,000, she said. The cost was partially covered by a $47,500 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a $225,000 grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.
The machine will generate an average of 92 percent of the property's annual energy needs, saving the business between $30,000 and $35,000 each year, a number that could go up as electricity prices rise.
At this rate, the turbine could pay for itself in as few as five years, Duffley said.
Her motives for pursuing the project, however, were not purely financial, she said.
"It's not just the economic, but the ethical reasons," said Duffley, adding that she also plans to add solar panels to the buildings and convert the business' tractors to run on biodiesel over the next few years.
The turbine will be connected to the electric grid, which will allow it to contribute excess capacity to the general power supply.
"On a very windy day, Country Garden will be feeding green kilowatts into the grid," Duffley said.
Before going ahead with the installation, Hyannis Country Garden had to get approvals from a range of federal, state and local agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration, Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife, the Massachusetts Historical Commission and various departments within the town of Barnstable.
It also had to address the potential concerns of neighbors and abutters.
The business conducted extensive studies to determine the level of noise the turbine could be expected to generate.
The investigations concluded that the sound levels would typically be around 50 decibels, quieter than the average residential street.
"They're very tall and they're very big, but they're very quiet," Duffley said.
Unlike most wind turbines, the one being installed at the garden center does not use a gearbox, which keeps the noise levels down, said Brett Pingree, a vice president for Northern Power, the company the manufactures the machines.
Project planners did what Dufflet calls "extensive outreach" into the neighborhood, explaining the installation plans and inviting area residents to come visit the site.
During the process, however, the plan did encounter some resistance from concerned neighbors.
Abutter Jim Totten spoke in opposition to the project at multiple planning board meetings last winter, according to meeting minutes. He worried properties with a view of the turbine could lose value and questioned whether the machine would interfere with satellite television reception.
He also presented a list of signatures that he said represented other neighbors with concerns about the project.
Totten could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Earl MacDowell, who has a clear view of the turbine from the sunroom of his Woodland Avenue home, said he is not concerned about the project.
"People had been squawking that it's going to be noisy," he said, "but there'll be no noise. It's right in my backyard and I'm not worried."
