Old Farm, New Energy

Not long after you pass Abel’s Hill in Chilmark, across the tops of the trees, you’ll see it: White blades turning slowly in the sky, powered by the valuable wind off the south shore. This past week, a wind turbine went up at the and, at nearly 150 feet, it is the tallest wind turbine on the Island.

It’s of no little consequence that it is families like the Allens and the Atherns, owners of who installed a similar wind turbine last year, who are ushering in a new era of energy to the Island. The Allen Farm is one of the oldest on the Island, and has belonged to the Allen family for more than 300 years. To see such a wind turbine among the sheep grazing on the boulder-covered hills of the Allen Farm is to see the old leading in the new.

Clarissa Allen, who co-owns the farm with her husband Mitchel Posin, said, “Anybody who has deep roots on this Island, or who has made this place their home, really cares about the ecology and the future of this place.”

Allen and Posin, along with the owners of the , also in Chilmark, were approved for turbines on their farms last year. Under a state agricultural exemption, farms are allowed to bypass local zoning bylaws as long as more than 50 percent of the turbine’s energy produced is used for commercial agriculture.

“In the beginning there was some negativity,” said Allen. “But that was mostly based on initial misunderstandings. We’ve had wonderful support from our neighbors and friends and the town.”  The placement of the turbine was configured with great care. “There are many homes to the north and east of us,” said Allen, “and we made sure that it was out of the direct sightline of any of them.”

The raising of the turbine was akin to the raising of a barn. Members of the community came out to watch as the turbine was raised by Gary Harcourt and Larry Schubert, owners of Great Rock Windpower, and their team. Mr. Posin and his son, Nathaniel Allen-Posin, helped put it into place, and an accordion player came by to add a little music to the occasion.

This is not the first wind turbine to go up on the Allen Farm. The farm actually had one back in the 70s that was eventually taken down because it couldn’t withstand the salt of the ocean air. “For a long time my family has had a sharp awareness of environmental issues,” said Allen. “Wind is just the evolution of that thinking.”

According to Harcourt, the Allen Farm turbine will offset the burning of over 100,000 pounds of coal annually. A figure like that translates into nearly 715 pounds of sulfur dioxide and about 150,000 pounds of CO₂ that is not going into the island air or the earth’s atmosphere. And since the wind turbine will produce more energy than the farm uses, they are hoping to sell some to local business as “green energy.”

“We are all concerned about the impact traditional energy sources are having on this Island,” said Allen. “We have some of the best wind on the eastern seaboard on this farm. It just seems like the natural progression of things to use it.”