Higher power

Massachusetts: What if some nuns in Wrentham decided to put up a wind turbine? And then high school officials in Worcester? And a Canton bank chairman? And pretty soon, the question wasn’t where do wind farms belong, but how many windmills can we squeeze in to every last available space? That day is coming.

While rich people with summer homes have spent the better part of the last decade fighting Cape Wind, a large offshore wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound, single turbine projects, like the one going up at the abbey, are becoming increasingly common. In the last three years, the state has awarded $23 million to people looking to build one or two wind turbines on their property. There are now roughly 100 projects either scheduled to be built or being studied, according to the state. And with electricity costs in Massachusetts nearly three times higher than in 2000 — and expected to keep rising — it’s no longer just green-minded liberals championing the cause of wind, but rather “radical freethinkers” like small-town officials, school superintendents, and businesspeople looking to save money while also doing a little something to help the earth.

Officials from Medford to Plymouth, Quincy to Sandwich have received state funding to study the feasibility of wind projects in their communities. High schools want them, and so do ski resorts. The idea, says James Christo, is becoming increasingly popular.

Boston Globe