Applied Materials' wind turbine coming down for good

In what will be a dramatic shift for the Gloucester skyline, Applied Materials Inc. on Dory Road is decommissioning its towering wind turbine and taking it down.

This after one of the turbine’s three 160-foot-long blades tumbled straight down to the ground and snapped in two sometime overnight on Sunday, July 31, 2022, causing some damage on the ground, but no injuries.

The formerly 492-foot wind turbine, measured from its base to the top of its fully outstretched blades — the others were removed last November — is in Blackburn Industrial Park on Applied Materials’ campus.

With activity around the wind turbine having started — a crane and other equipment could be seen Friday around its base — work to take it down and remove the tower should wrap up by month’s end, weather permitting, the company said. This work has nothing to do with the city’s two wind turbines that are in operation not far away in the industrial park.

Company spokesperson Matthew Beach said in an email to the Times that “the decision has been made to decommission the turbine and remove it from our site. We understand and acknowledge this activity will be visible and the community will want to know why.”

Beach said California-based Applied Materials, which acquired Gloucester-based Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. in 2011 and operates it as one of its business units, would not say why the blade failed.

“A root-cause analysis of the turbine blade incident has been completed,” he said. “The findings will not be released publicly. I do understand there is interest in knowing what happened, but the analysis report contains confidential information concerning Applied Materials’ suppliers and vendors.”

Sustainability strategy
Beach said Applied Materials has set a goal of having 100% of its global electricity come from renewable sources by 2030. At the end of last year, the company had achieved 100% renewable electricity use in the United States and 69% globally.

However, since July 31, 2022, its Gloucester turbine has been inoperable.

“After considering several options,” Beach said, “we determined that it would be more impactful to our carbon footprint reduction goals to remove the turbine and pursue other renewable energy options.”

The turbine generated a considerable amount of electricity in the decade that it spun, Beach said.

“For your reference,” he said, “during the length of its operation the turbine generated an average of nearly 4 million kWh per year. That’s equivalent to the annual electricity used by approximately 550 homes.

“Our new sustainability strategy for Gloucester aims to generate several times more renewable energy than we have in the past, with the goal of generating renewable energy equivalent to the site’s electricity consumption, and we are actively connecting with potential partners for both on-site and off-site options for renewables in the New England region.”

Beach did not elaborate on what such options might be.

The other turbines
The Gloucester Fire Department responded at 7 a.m. July 31, 2022, after it was discovered one of the turbine’s blades had fallen. The company said at the time the onboard controls immediately responded and placed the turbine in a safe mode. The remaining components of the turbine, the tower, and the remained blades remained intact.

In November and December of 2022, the two remaining rotors and the turbine hub were removed.

The Applied Materials turbine was built in 2012 at a cost of about $8 million and went online that December. It was the first of three installed in the Blackburn Industrial Park, and also the tallest in the Northeast at the time.

Applied Materials removed the blades from the turbine to make repairs before reattaching them in late 2018. The other two turbines in the industrial park are operated by the city and its partners, and have been operating since 2013.

The fiscal 2024 city budget calls for $300,000 in revenue from the two turbines.

“The city receives 20% of the value of the electricity generated by the two wind turbines located at Gloucester Engineering,” the city budget states.

“That is the number we budgeted and is typically what we receive from our revenue sharing agreement,” said Mayor Greg Verga in an email on Friday.

The city said last year it has a power purchase agreement with a separate, private company that operates the two turbines, and it works closely with the owners of those turbines to ensure inspections and maintenance are conducted regularly.

Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714,or at eforman@northofboston.com.

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Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714,or at eforman@northofboston.com.

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