In December of 2001, the town of Hull started up Massachusetts' first modern wind plant, a 660-kW turbine on Windmill Point. Today the wind turbine is saving money and making clean power for the benefit of the town. The story did not start in December, however.

The Renewable Energy Research Laboratory worked closely with the town of Hull for years before to develop this resource for them. RERL helped measure Hull's wind, then evaluated the wind, and helped Hull find the right technology for their site. See the CEERE news item for additional details.

With the new Wind Energy Predevelopment Support program, RERL can now offer these services to other individuals and organizations within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who would like to develop their wind resource but where the potential site is too small for commercial development.

Realizing that there is a strong need for uniting efforts to promote wind energy in the state, the Massachusetts Wind Working Group has been convened and is being hosted by RERL along with the Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources and US Department of Energy’s Wind Powering America.

Other projects that RERL has supported are:

• Resource assessment
• SODAR
• Offshore