STAFF WRITER
CONCORD - While opponents of the what could be the nation's first offshore wind farm, proposed for Nantucket Sound, have focused much of their ire on the height of its 130 turbines, they are now raising concerns about a structure that must be built on the water to transfer electricity to the mainland.

Horns Rev transformer Off southwest Denmark Height: 75 feet Dimensions: 69 x 99 feet Area: 6,831 square feet Transformers: 1 Turbines served: 80 Cape Wind proposed transformer Height: 100 feet Dimensions: 100 x 200 feet Area: 20,000 square feet Transformers: 3 Turbines served: 130 Sources: Eltra; Cape Wind

The size of the platform - changed late last year by Cape Wind - has the project's main opponent, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, raising concerns that a federal government review of the proposal is not looking closely enough at the platform, major component of the wind farm.

In a letter mailed earlier this week to the Army Corps of Engineers, Susan Nickerson, executive director of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, said that the enlarged dimensions of the transformer platform - from 15,000 square feet to 20,000 - might go unnoticed by the corps.

Nickerson said she was concerned the corps might use outdated information in completing a draft environmental impact statement.

"Their fears are indeed unfounded," said Larry Rosenberg, chief of public affairs for the corps' New England headquarters.

"There have been discussions regarding the size that will be necessary for this platform, and they (Cape Wind) have been directed that this information be available prior to the draft," Rosenberg said.

Nickerson saw the changes in the platform's area, or footprint, differently.

"It is disturbing that Cape Wind is expanding the size of this structure without the benefit of public notice or input," she wrote in the letter.

"What the letter tells us is that they (the alliance) are not paying attention," Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg said that, as detailed in the beginning of the review process, before a draft environmental impact statement is released Cape Wind must provide a complete application "reflecting all aspects of the project, and that has to be set in stone.

Once the draft is released, there will be formal public hearings and a formal public comment period.

The draft could be ready as early as this summer, corps officials have said.

But after another wind farm opposition group called Wind Stop placed an advertisement in the Cape Cod Times last month, the platform began getting more attention.

The structure, which will have a helicopter landing pad on top, will sit on steel pilings and rise about 100 feet above the water.

In comparison, the turbines Cape Wind plans to build would rise almost 250 feet.

The transformer platform will be in the middle of the wind farm, about 8.5 miles from shore, according to Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers.

Rosenberg said the corps at this time is not concerned about exact engineering details, or precise locations for each turbine.

"It is a concern of the corps that all these details are put in stone and put into the draft for the public" to read and review, Rosenberg said.

"Having it in stone is fine, but the public has a right to know. What does it matter if the Army Corps is or is not worried about it," said Ernie Corrigan, spokesman for the Alliance. "It's monstrous. People don't know about this."

In its environmental notification form filed in November 2001, Cape Wind indicated the platform would be about 100 feet wide, 150 feet long and 100 feet high. Last month, Rodgers said, that changed to 100 by 200 feet.

Rodgers said the corps was notified "at least several weeks ago" about the revision.

Rodgers called the alliance's concerns that the Army Corps would issue the important draft impact statement based on old information "silly."

"Assuming Cape Wind is successful, we can only build what we are permitted to build," Rodgers said.

(Published: February 6, 2004)