Another one bites the dust

One pipe dream, like that of so many communities in Massachusetts, vanished in a puff on September 22, 2020. Another land based wind turbine came down after years of failure to produce the promised electricity. South Coast Today contributing writer Tim Dunn recounted the story (UMass Dartmouth wind turbine comes down after stormy history) while Peter Perreira captured the time lapse photos for New Bedford’s The Standard-Times.

UMass Dartmouth acquired the turbine in 2012 after Cape Cod residents prevailed against siting it at the Community College in West Barnstable.

“It never really worked well from the beginning. They were supposed to build it and after it ran correctly for 30 days, we were supposed to take over possession of it. It took three years for them to get it to run for 30 consecutive days,” [Jamie] Jacquart said, stating that the ultimate decision to tear the turbine down came last year, when the bids for a service contract went up “significantly,” something he said caused school officials to reevaluate its cost-effectiveness.

Believing the Elecon model was a lemon, the university found that each time it was repaired, it produced less electricity.

The turbine’s deconstruction involved dismantling by Londonderry, NH’s Down & Out Industries. “‘It was basically as simple as it could be, we just notched it like a tree and dropped it,’ said Stephen Draper.” The turbine’s parts will be divided between Spiegel South Shore Scrap Metal in Brockton and Raynham’s C. Carney Environmental for unsalvageable trash.