New Tower on the Taconiuc Crest Trail?

[Bobcat]

Does anyone know anything about a new tower on the taconic Crest Trail about 1/2 mile north of where RT 2 bisects the trail? It is on the east side of the ridgeline and probably about 100-150 feet tall (estimate). My guess would be that it is gathering data for a potentail wind power generation project.

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[masshysteria]

Bob, it's not a cell tower? The only place around here that I've heard of possible wind generation is in Rowe and Florida, but that's on the other side of the Hoosac valley from there.

 

[Bobcat]

Doesn't look like it

It's definitely not a cell tower. It is a tall solid metal pole with five sets of guide wires anchoring each corner. There are anemometers at three different heights. There is a small solar panel as well. It really looks like it is part of a wind study but i can't find any info on it. It is in the Hopkins forest so I would think that Williams college would some how be involved. The tower sits literally a snowballs throw from the NY border and appears to be situated to take maximum advantage of the winds hitting the ridgeline.

Williams "pulled the plug" on their wind power project on the ridge of Berlin Mt (in New York) due to opostion form residents on the New York side so I wondered if they were studying a new location.

 

[Rivet]

weather station

"Whether or not such measurements are taken at the Berlin Pass, Williams College has installed a fifth weather station in Hopkins Memorial Forest as part of its research on sustainable practices and renewable energy resources. The meteorological tower is located on the Taconic Crest in Williamstown, MA, and is tall enough to measure both the wind’s speed and its direction above the surround trees, along with other factors like air temperature and density. By comparing data sets from this tower and the other weather stations in Hopkins Forest, there is the potential to model wind flows over the entire forest and above and below the forest canopy. "

http://www.berlinwind.org/glance.html

 

[iceNsnow]

windmills on the skyline trail

A couple of years ago I was exploring the Skyline trail that goes from Rte 20 to nearly Rte 7. Passing over the Brodie Mt section of this route, I found many towers with windmills in various stages of erection. Does anyone have information on this project? Rivet?

 

[Rivet]

Here is some info I found courtesy of Google

http://www.ventdecolere.org/archives/tourisme-viticulture/Tourisme-etAutres-Massachussets.pdf

 

[masshysteria]

That is very interesting! Has anyone everseen the windmills on Rt. 100 in Vermont heading north out of Stamford? They're huge! I understand that there is an effort underway to add more.
I'm not 100% sure, but I thought the windmills on Brodie Mnt. never got the full go-ahead that was needed to finsh them. I thought the town of Hancock had some zoning issues that were never addressed.Not to mention some reports were pending on their impact on migratory birds. I am probably wrong though.

 

[iceNsnow]

Thanks, Rivet!

Very informational article. I wonder if the windmills are operative, since they were only under construction when I was in that area.


Thanks again,
Inge

 

[jfb]

That is very interesting! Has anyone everseen the windmills on Rt. 100 in Vermont heading north out of Stamford? They're huge!

Yes I've seen them, took a tour last summer. The ones planned for Monroe and Florida will be much larger.

 

[masshysteria]

jfb, you say they're going to be bigger than the ones in Vermont?! Oh my God! If you've ever climbed to the top of Spuce Hill in Florida/Savoy, there's signs warning not to disturb the hawk-monitoring equipment there. I wonder what impact the wind turbines will have on the hawk migrations over that ridge?

 

[jfb]

Here's some info. I read recently: http://www.iberkshires.com/advocate/story16268.html I should mention that there are a...ills across Rt. 8 from the ones in Searsburg.

 

[masshysteria]

That is quite an eye opener! I'm not against finding alternate sources of energy, but at what cost?

The three opinions at the bottom of your link to Iberkshires are interesting.