Frankly, I have zero interest in Mr. DePasquale's assessment of the noise and flicker from the turbine. Obviously it would be better to hear from homeowners nearby as to their opinions. Further, the thing is WAY too big, and simply does NOT belong where the TC allowed it to go. It's ridiculous, just check out other locations where there are wind turbines all over this country...or all over the world. I don't think you'll find one this size located so close to homes. Just irresponsible. Check out the Hummel report for how this same crew just lost big time to the firefighters in court. They were told they couldn't just alter everything without bargaining but hey, the town lawyers have to make a living too! And we just re-elected two of them! We get what we deserve for voting for them.

"If the decision is upheld it could cost taxpayers well more than a million dollars, including back wages that have to be paid to the firefighters, plus a pricey legal bill from Daniel Kinder, the attorney handling the case for North Kingstown. Embury told us in September the legal bill was well worth it if the town was able to secure the cost-saving shift changes. Now it looks as if there will be additional legal work for a Supreme Court appeal."

I can see the thing from my backyard currently, though I think when everything blooms the trees will block it out (I'm off Old Baptist). I can't hear it, but maybe that's just because the noises coming from Walmart all the time cover it. There most certainly is a flicker in the early morning, though. If it's running around 7am or so all the shadows in my house, and indeed the rest of my street, can be seen jiggling back & forth slightly. It actually makes me a bit nauseous.
That being said, I'm totally fine dealing with that if it does some good for the environment & saves the town (and all of us) some money in energy costs, however that seems unlikely to be the case if we foot the bill for the court case.
Well, hopefully it's good for the environment at least...

NIMBIEs aside, congrats to DePasquale on his success in a great project. Our grandchildren will thank him and those like him.

Wait, what?, the town lost to the firefighters?, where did you find this information?

Derrick, WE the taxpayers save nothing from this! This is a private project, just benefiting Mr DePasquale.....this turbine does not defray taxpayer costs in any way, unlike the turbines owned by towns. The only way I could even see doing such a project is if it benefited taxpayers, and even then, this thing is just outside of all regulatory norms everywhere else.

Ed, The jury is still out, way out, as to whether wind energy is even a viable alternative to coal ect, most countries have already moved away from turbines for a multitude of reasons. Just because one likes the idea of alternative energy doesn't make this a good project! Is it acceptable that there is one nk homeowner who is experiencing nausea from this thing?? No, not in my opinion.

Dave, that's some interesting info from the Hummel report. Samantha, are you following up on this?

A holiday note to Ebeneezer DePasquale

Thanks a heep for the kind consideration of your neighbors and the community. I woke up a few weeks ago to a big surprise looming in what had previously been a beautiful, peaceful, meadow/trees/gardens view from my back yard. Imagine the thrill when now that graceful view on the horizon has a glaring industrial wad of steel blades running through it. But wait I said....it's good for the environment???, and will save our town money surely???... whats a change in view if it's good for the environment.....right????. I checked the facts, only to discover you'd been clever enough to very quickly take advantage of a government loophole making it mandatory National Grid buy back the energy created by this industrial tower planted in our residential gardens at a much higher rate...creating a nice way for you to earn a tidy chunk of change. So while the rest of us get to look forward to a nice big percent of the resale value of our homes being flushing right down the toilet, Ebeneezer DePasquale will be watching his bank account tallies swell.

Mr Scrooge, my most sincere wishes to you in this season of peace, love and kindness. Hope you enjoy that cold hard $$CASH$$ keeping you company all season long and in the years ahead!

Backsass, Human innovation knows no bounds. There will be plenty of new ideas for alternative energy coming soon that will surpass anything we've seen. My point is this thing is way too big, way too close to homes. the municipal government allowed every law and reg to be twisted to allow it, it doesn't even benefit the taxpayers! In fact all evidence is that it makes energy more costly for the rest of us. It was a bad idea, implemented in their usual play favorites fashion, and simply because you like wind energy, doesn't make it a good one.

DePasquale should sell tickets for trips to the top of the wind turbine. I bet the view is awesome.

WTG & Wind Farms are an obsolete 18th century monster redeployed as a vehicle / to loot the national treasury. This is economic terrorism on the utility rate payer and tax payers. See movie "WINDFALL" on Netflix for details. One only must look to the failure re European WTG experience with this outrageous so called solution. Yes, a solution to a counterfeit so called global warming distortion of a natural climate cycle. These things do not save one drop of oil! OBTW RI electrical power from natural gas! Now USN wants to place up to 12 monster wind turbines along the length of the west shore of Aquidneck Island! Yes, yet another assault on the Narragansett Bay Basin Eco system and fragile environment. This madness must be halted. The true believers subscribing to their green kool aid & counterfeit political agenda serve to soil our constitution and the rule of law.
OBTW what ever happen to the Deep Water Wind Project located off shore? We were told a better location and would not impact our fragile environment and very limited suitable on land sites etc. Also on land wind speed would continue to decrease making economics of operation impossible (Velocity cubed factor). IF Navy wants Washington political wind solution then go off shore! If not a viable option then CANCEL project Deep Water Wind as well. We do not have Deep Pockets to pay for that monster either. Warning - Infra sound (low frequency) is among WTG human health hazard over a long distance! Also WTG KILLS birds!

The Massachusetts Military Reservation (Otis Air National Guard Base)Cape Cod received and installed its turbine in late fall 2009. Today,three years later the turbine has a gear box failure.It's repair costs are being kept secret!
Secret from the public!

This turbine is an embarrassment to all the local politicians and federal government officials who dedicated the turbine on December 2,2009. The turbine is an economic catastrophic failure.

The gear box was made by the same company that had gear box failures in Portsmouth ,Rhode Island and Princeton ,Massachusetts.

The cost of the repairs in Princeton three years later after the warranty costs over 600 thousand dollars . The turbine was built and finished December 15, 2009. The Portsmouth multi-million dollar wind turbine may have to be removed. The replacement gear box will only last three to five more years.

The commercial wind turbines are a financial fiasco.

The wind industry is hiding a dirty little secret that these turbines with a gear box don't even last five years !

2010 2011 2012 2013
These are average prices for 2010-2013 (2013 estimated) for electricity

Retail Prices (cents per kilowatt hour)
Residential Sector 11.54 11.72 11.86 12.05
Commercial Sector 10.19 10.23 10.12 10.28
Industrial Sector 6.77 6.82 6.67 6.80

According to the story, "Per a 15-year power purchase agreement with National Grid, DePasquale will receive 13.35 cents per kilowatt hour generated by the turbine as the Grid buys back the power."

So, natural grid is paying at least an extra 1.5 to 2 cents kwh for this energy..which ultimately gets passed on to the consumer, even if paid for by a federal subsidy. At 3,000,000 kwh, that's around 60 to 70K the ratepayer is subsidizing this project..

Germany has over 21,000 wind turbines and prices keep going up, up, up!!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/world/europe/energy-price-increases-pose-challenge-for-merkel.html?_r=0

When will the tree huggers realize that whether it is electric cars or wind power, if the free market does not support the model then it will not work economically?!??!?!?

The clean/renewable energy concept makes complete sense given the shape of today's world. Any impact to resale values of homes in the NK Green development will have to be tested but I believe in the end people will see the value in this type of project and support the area. Regarding noise and flicker - this too will have to be tested. Mr. DePasquale does care about the development and his neighbors. He will make it right. It would be incomprehensible for him or anyone to allow familes to lose personal wealth and have to deal with negative impacts to the overall quality of life of these residents just to make a buk or feed an ego. Time will tell -

Only one person profits from the NK Green turbine - Mr. DePasquale. For all intents & purposes that turbine is a private energy company, whose profits benefit the owner. The issue of additional costs to all Grid customers has already been established in RI & elsewhere - the Grid has to pay the owner of a turbine (DePasquale in this case) more per KWH for his turbine-generated electricity than they pay from other established sources (e.g.,coal). That increased cost will be passed along to YOU - the consumer. Guess if you're wealthy you can afford to be green, but the average household is struggling now w/ utility costs. Enriching one man at the expense of the public on the cost of electricity doesn't seem like a smart arrangement in these economic times.

Keep in any calculation the capacity factor for the WTG.
Yes, on an annual bases that number is no better than .22 or 22% of the rated output.
The wholesale cost of natural gas electrical power from the Johnston RI 565 Megawatt plant twin gas turbine and secondary waste heat three stage turbine was at 4.5 cents last time that I looked. Then we have clean coal available from The Summerset / Fall River 1.4 gigawatt plant.

What are the required setbacks from property lines - anyone know?
Noise,quality of life and health issues can and will be addressed in court and the turbine can always be de-commissioned and dismantled - hopefully all residents will discuss these issues with the apprasiers doing property assessments for tax purposes. If the values decrease so should the taxes !

Mr DePasquale needs to understand that if there is any noise at all or any other impact on the residents quality of life in that area including loss of property values due to to the errection of his "monster" - people will not be silent and he is responsible for correcting it to the dsatisfaction of the resident(s). On what planet would it be considered ok to do this to average hard working people who bought into what they thought would be a beautiful and peaceful neighborhood? Also promised was a monthly credit of $150 - that has not happened and the development has turned out to be neither beautiful or peaceful. I agree with earlier comments that there are legal remedies which can and will be pursued. Shame on the local politicians for approving this project in the first place - it goes to show that when you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Just another small town government with people who think they have some power - no real concern for the residents just personal ego's - this issue is a perfect example. Stay on this people of NK Green stop,look and listen - your quality of life should not take a hit. Also, a case could be made that if the size of the turbine is deemed to create loss of property value or individual hardship within the development, this too is enough to petition for a cease and desist order to shut the thing down - don't take this lying down -

This turbine was first proposed to the town BEFORE the whole wind turbine debate began. The Stamp Farm application was fought but this turbine's application was already approved because there was nothing on the books to stop it. Check the timeline of this story. Also, if it wasn't for the federal govt's green energy subsidy, this guy would not be putting this up. While he may be making some money, the problem he will face is that natural gas prices are still falling and this wind turbine is not competitive with market rates. It will be interesting to see how long this turbine runs and also how long the three new ones in Providence last. They are all the same model turbine.

Denmark is a country that was very much on the forefront of wind energy, w/ turbines everywhere on land and offshore. I believe they make the Vesta model which is one of the best & was the one originally specified for NK Green site. DePasquale switched that out for the cheaper Chinese made one, same as the 3 in Prov. They don't have a long track record of reliability. The Danish over the years have compiled reams of evidence of health problems w/ turbines placed in close proximity to homes, farms & businesses & have revised their setbacks to a much larger distance from any homes. I will report back w/ their newer setbacks, but it is huge and they have bought out homes that ended up too close to established turbines. I know for sure the NKG turbine could never be put up in the same proxmiity to residences in Denmark and they are one of the world's leaders in wind technology and safety. And as others have said, wind energy comparative to other sources (particularly solar) is not cost effective for consumers.

Dr. Nina Pierpont of New York has described "wind turbine syndrome" and determined that its primary cause is the effect of low-frequency wind turbine noise on the organs of the inner ear. Dr. Pierpont's work has led her to recommend that large wind turbines not be sited closer than 1.25 miles from a home.

Here is another example of a decision driven by greed and nothing to do with improving the environment or enhancing peoples quality of life. How much consideration was given to health concerns in the due dilligence process? Obviously not much... but then again it's never been about anything but the money. If Depasquale was in the least bit sincere he would provide the residents with some financial guarantee that property value lost due to this turbine would be backed and covered by his company since they are the only one benefiting from this project.Greed - plain and simple....

To: Mark DePasquale
So how do you respond the residents of NK Green who are asking you to put your money where your "heart" is ? - provide each resident with a legal and binding property value assurance agreement which would make you responsible for the difference between sales price and comparable properties outside of the wind turbine zone. You know this is how the NKG residents feel in their hearts- some just have difficulty saying it. You know that's on everyone's mind - loss of their property value.By doing what you've done you have essentially taken options off the table from everyone who invested in that area -families with children, retirees and hard working people looking to secure a future. People came to you with confidence that you were sincere and looking after their best interest. If you were a man of your word you wouldn't even hesitate - what say you ???

A property value assurance guarantee - legal and binding. Loss of property value is on the minds of everyone in the development - some just have difficulty saying it and if you think or believe anything other than that you need to get in touch with reality. If you're so sure that value won't be lost - then put your money where your "heart" is. The residents put their faith in you when they made the decision to build there - how can you even sleep at night knowing how you are impacting them -With all the hardships and difficulty people are dealing with today you knowingly do this to them -

All good comments - none of which seem to support this turbine and all of which agree on one thing - Mr. DePasquale was less than honest when he stated that the turbine would not make noise, cost residents wealth or be a visual problem for the neighbors in the NKG community. There are a number of court cases and class action suits in process defending innocent victims against this exact situation. Residents all is not lost here - If the turbine causes personal financial hardship, continues to make noise and is deemed a public nuisance then a class action law suit can be a way out. If he is not going to grant financial assurances then that would be the way to go. We can get the project decommisioned and shut down - he was clearly self serving and showed no consideration to the folks that have to live underneath that industrial mill that has no business in a residential area - his lack of honesty and sincerity says it all...

I live in NKG - he can keep my $150 "hush" money - that turbine is excessive and doesn't belong in the area. My heart skips a beat every time I drive in (and not in a good way). I have been stressed since it started and feel as though I was duped by Mark since he never mentioned the enormity or the noise or the property value loss. This thing has already caused me anxiety and I can't see a way out at this point in time. I hope he feels really proud of himself for doing this to people who trusted him...how could you ?

Always makes me laugh when the greenie tree huggers get behind a developer because they think he is doing something for the "greater good" and they believe in their hardship & sacrifice for the "greater good." Then years down the line they learn they were screwed over and all the developer was in it for was profit.

WHY DO YOU THINK DEPASQUALE DID THIS? FOR MOTHER EARTH?
Wake up....my god please wake up.

Dear Resident of NKG. Don't get yourself sick over this - the majority of the residents feel the same way but for some reason they are just afraid to tell him. He knows he did the wrong thing by the people his ego won't allow him to change course but in the end if we all stand together he will get the message. He thinks that thing has proponents but he will soon find out that you can't get ahead at the expense of good honest people. Just try not to let this make you sick although I understand your difficulty.
More press will follow -

Update - Just some info I ran across today:

Wind Turbine -Firefighter life safety considerations
The obvious challenge facing firefighters is the height involved if a fire occurs in the turbine motor. Towers can extend 300 to 400 feet above ground.

However, due to the risk of falling fire debris over a wide area, approaching a burning turbine is usually not an option unless there is a life risk involved. If the turbine is turning, power is being generated and an electrocution hazard will be present.

Typically, a good option for firefighters to consider is to evacuate any endangered areas, set up a collapse zone, and attempt to control any ground fires to prevent the fire from spreading to other units.

In the case of a runaway or over-speed event, rotating turbines can throw debris thousands of feet away during a blade failure. Pieces of blades have been documented as traveling over 4,200 feet. Distance and time will fix this problem. Pre-incident planning and SOP development are keys to success for safely handling this unique danger.

http://www.firerescue1.com/fire-attack/articles/1306390-3-wind-turbine-failures-firefighters-must-know/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/26/cape-cod-community-considers-taking-down-wind-turbines-after-illness-noise/?test=latestnews