Five companies submitted proposals for a wind turbine yesterday, but only two made bids for what the town was asking for. Only one of the two came in under the $2.4-million limit set by the Town Council.

The proposals now go to the Committee for Renewable Energy for Barrington, which is expected to make its recommendation to the council next month.

Meanwhile, the committee released a 40-page report suggesting that the project should not pose any serious health and safety risks if the turbine is built at town-owned property at the end of Legion Way, already the favored site.

The report documents a higher risk of problems such as noise and ice falls if Barrington were to go with its original site at the high school, a plan that has sparked opposition from neighbors.

And the report concluded that some concerns - such as whether the spinning blades could trigger epileptic seizures - are unfounded.

Among the bidders for the project, Lumus Construction Inc., of Woburn, Mass., was the only company that, at first blush, made an on-target proposal that was under budget.

The company, whose courier literally delivered the proposal one minute before yesterday's 4 p.m. deadline, offered bids for three brands of turbines of various heights with various price tags.

They were a 1-megawatt Nordic unit for $2,348,700 that will have a 230-foot-high tower and 194-foot-long blades (424 feet high from base to blade); a 600-kilowatt Elecon unit for $2,210,900 with a 213-foot tower and 157-foot blades (370 feet tall); and a 600-kilowatt RRB unit 367 feet high for $1,984,000 with the same tower height, but slightly shorter blades than the Elecon machine.

(Most of the discussions in town have focused on a turbine that would be 326 feet high from base to blade tip.)

The only other company that offered a proposal that seemed to conform to the town's plan was Ameresco Inc., of Framingham, Mass. It said a turbine at Legion Way would cost $2,548,322 and $20,000 a year to maintain. It did not offer a proposal for the high school site, and it warned that the price could change, depending on the geology of the site.

In addition, Ameresco said that the bid price was only good for one month. There is little chance that a contract could be signed by Sept. 18.

Then there were the other offers.

Providence Business Partners of Mendon Road, Coventry, said it could build the turbine for exactly $2.4 million, but only if the town agreed to give the company 30 percent of the electricity, which it would sell back to the town at a price that the proposal neglected to accurately state.

Without the buyback, the company said, the cost would be $3,375,300.

SolarWrights, of 17 Burnside St., Bristol, gave a bid of $1,661,717, but that was for four mini-turbines, each with a 121-foot-tall tower. The company, a division of Earth Friendly Energy Group, said it would knock $10,000 off the price if the town put its logo on the machines.

Ameresco said it would be glad to build the turbine at its own expense and sell the power back to the town, a deal not called for in the town's request for proposals.

The fifth proposal, from Allco Renewable Energy Group Ltd., of New York City, made a similar offer, and didn't quote a price on a town-owned windmill at all.

Barrington has been promised a $2.1-million interest-free loan from the IRS to help finance the project, but only if the deal is sealed by Dec. 31, which is why the town has been trying to move quickly.

The Legion Way site is favored because it would put the turbine at least 1,000 feet from most homes.

In contrast, the high school location - which was the primary site until state law was changed to allow the town to generate power at one site and use it at another - would be about 500 feet from the nearest home and 190 feet from the high school building.

Opponents have complained that that is too close. They have alleged that the risks to students and residents are too high, and that the hazards include everything from flying ice and motion sickness, to seizures and night terrors in small children.

The release of the new Health and Safety Subcommittee report, available at www.barringtonenergy.com/wind_energy_project/reports, is designed to address those concerns.

STRUCTURAL FAILURE: The opposition group known as Citizens' Wind Watch, of Barrington, has contended that there is a 1 in 100 chance that a turbine blade will fall or go flying each year.

The subcommittee, chaired by Ron Pitt, said the actual annual risk of failure is 1 in 2,400, and that includes older turbines.

In addition, the risk of being hit by a blade fragment is about 1 in 2.5 million - about the same as being stuck by lightning - for a person who spends 24 hours a day for a full year within 900 feet of the turbine. If someone spent that entire year within 450 of the turbine, the risk would rise to 1 in 769,203.

ICE THROWS: Critics have warned about the danger of being hit by ice that might collect on the blades and spin off. The subcommittee said precautions can be taken against ice buildup, and that ice fragments generally don't fly beyond 330 feet.

NOISE: The specifications for the turbine say the noise level cannot be greater than 40 decibels 1,000 feet from the base of the tower. That's the sound of a bubbling brook, leaves rustling, a living room, or a quiet office.

Critics have said the drone of a turbine can cause sleep disturbances, headaches and other problems.

The subcommittee report acknowledges that noise can bother some people more than others, but says that at the Legion Way site, the outdoor noise at the nearest home would be within limits set by the World Health Organization, even if the homeowner kept the windows open.

That would apply to both regular and low-frequency sounds, according to the report.

HUMAN HEALTH: Opponents have handed out fliers saying that the stroboscopic effect of the turbine blades passing in front of the sun could cause motion sickness or seizures.

The subcommittee concluded that "flicker from wind turbines is too slow to cause epileptic seizures" and most of the flicker effects would not be seen at residences.

Even along Middle Highway, where people would be exposed to flicker some mornings, it would be less than 20 minutes per day, with a total exposure time of less than 12 hours per year.

The problem would be greater if the town went back to its original site at the high school.

The subcommittee said "flicker effects can be ameliorated through control strategies such as evergreen tree planting."

ANIMAL IMPACTS: The report cites a study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service saying that turbines do kill birds, but in 2003 the number was 20,000 to 37,000.

That's about four birds per turbine per year.

By comparison, 80 million birds die in motor vehicle collisions each year, at least 4 million perish in collisions with communication towers, and over 130 million are fatally zapped by flying into high tension power lines.

Bats are also vulnerable, with an average death rate of less than one bat per week.

The subcommittee said measures can be taken to keep the bird and bat deaths low.

One prominent critic, Ronald D. Russo, said yesterday that the report validates many of the concerns of the project's opponents, particularly those who have been against the high school site.

If the local Citizens' Wind Watch hadn't raised questions, he said, the new report would not have been done.

He said the School Committee should now vote to exclude the high school site from consideration.

"You can't come to any conclusions other than there are real safety issues with locating it 190 feet from the high school," he said.

He said Fuhrlander, a German manufacturer of wind turbines, recommends a minimum setback of 1,500 feet for a 600-kilowatt turbine, and he faulted the subcommittee for not embracing that standard.

But Russo acknowledged that if that standard were to be adopted, it might make it impossible to put a turbine anywhere in town.

He predicted that a lot of neighbors will be opposed to the Legion Way site as well.

The Committee for Renewable Energy is planning three "community outreach" meetings about the turbine.

The first will be tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Legion Hall, down the street from the town-owned land where the structure would be built.

A second would be Aug. 27 in the Town Council chamber of Town Hall, and the third is slated for Sept. 10 in the library auditorium.