Revere setting stage for wind power

REVERE – The City Council is laying the groundwork for Revere to follow Chelsea’s lead and erect an energy-generating windmill beginning with a debate on where to put one of the towering structures.Councilors later this spring will debate the merits of wind energy and problems related to constructing windmills, including the prospect of adding one of the looming structures to Revere’s skyline. Mayor Thomas Ambrosino wants the city positioned to obtain energy grant money to build windmills and solar-generating projects and help developers who propose this type of construction.He asked the council this week to help him draft a wind energy ordinance and select a section of the city where zoning regulations could be altered to allow windmill construction.The 240-foot tall windmill in Chelsea’s Forbes Park development generates enough energy to light and power 70 loft residences in the development.The council is preparing to debate a windmill ordinance even as plans take shape for building a solar energy facility on Wharf Street.The $5 million investment the utility wants to make in that corner of the city includes plans for renovating two power substations, one classified as abandoned by the utility, now located on Wharf and Railroad Avenue. National Grid plans to install solar panels on the site starting in about three months.The facility could provide power for one, even two, local schools according to National Grid.Solar projects attracted nearly $1.9 billion in venture capital in 2008 in 53 deals – nearly triple the amount of such investments a year earlier. Eight of the top 10 venture-backed investments in clean energy technology involved solar power, according to the report.The other two projects were related to the “smart” electric transmission grid and developing cellulosic ethanol.Ironically, wind energy, which recorded a record 50 percent growth last year in terms of how much electricity is being produced from turbines, was shunned by venture-capitalists. Investments in wind technology as a share of total clean energy venture-backed investments fell by 40 percent in 2008, according to the report.