Hull, Massachusetts Wins DOE Wind Power Pioneer Award

EERE News

11/7/2006

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced that the town of Hull, Massachusetts is receiving the 2006 Wind Power Pioneer Award. Hull’s wind program, which serves more than 10 percent of local energy needs, was cited for leadership, demonstrated success and innovation.



The Town of Hull was one of twelve public power utilities from across the United States nominated for the award this year. Given by the DOE Wind Powering America program, the award is being presented at the American Public Power Association’s 2006 Customer Connections Conference in San Antonio, Texas on November 7.



The Town of Hull is being honored for its outstanding leadership in advancing the use of wind power in a coastal community. The award recognizes Hull’s success in engaging the entire community to understand and move forward together on this project, from school teachers, utility engineers and local leaders to state government, academia and industry.



Located on a peninsula in Boston Harbor, the Town of Hull first developed wind power in the 1820s. Modern wind technology came to Hull in the 1980s, when the school district installed a small-scale wind power project. The Hull Municipal Light Plant supported that effort and subsequently worked with Citizen Advocates for Renewable Energy, to plan a utility-scale project. A 660-kW turbine, Hull Wind 1, was installed on the harbor in 2001. This past spring, the Hull Municipal Light Plant dedicated a second turbine. Hull Wind 2 is a 1.8 MW Vestas V80, installed on a closed landfill. The two wind turbines supply more than 10 percent of the community’s energy needs.



Award finalists, which will also be recognized, include American Municipal Power – Ohio, the City of Palo Alto (CA), CPS Energy (San Antonio, TX), and Sacramento Municipal Utility District (CA).



The American Public Power Association is the national service organization representing the Nation’s more than 2,000 community- and state-owned electric utilities and it cosponsors the Wind Pioneer Awards program. Previous winners have included municipal utilities in Waverly, Iowa, Fort Collins, Colorado, and Austin, Texas.



Wind Powering America is a program of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The program is committed to dramatically increasing the use of wind energy in the United States.


EERE, through its Wind Powering America effort and other programs, is helping the nation achieve targeted regional economic development, enhanced power generation options, improved environmental conditions, increased domestic energy supply and national security. For more information visit www.eere.doe.gov.