EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA

HAVERHILL - It is tiny as power-generating windmills go, but large enough to catch the attention of drivers on Interstate 495 - the intended promotional effect.

A windmill with 12-foot blades is spinning on the roof of the Covanta Energy incinerator at Ward Hill. The windmill is a turbine that can generate enough energy to power three homes.

It is the first windmill in Haverhill and meant to promote alternative energy as much as help power the incinerator.

Plant Manager James Lynch said the new windmill is a start - the company is considering building several large windmills at the top of the landfill mound next to the power plant.

The turbines would collect wind blowing along the Merrimack River, where the landfill is located.

"This is our baby step," Lynch said of the new windmill.

It was installed two weeks ago at a cost of $75,000 by Bergman and Associates, an engineering firm located downtown and owned by Haverhill native Paul Bergman.

Bergman said he has been an wind energy advocate for nearly 30 years and wears his loyalties on his chest - a blue neck-tie adorned with windmills.

He is proud to be the engineer who built the first windmill in his hometown.

"It's my first love, really," he said of wind power.

With the cost of traditional fossil fuels increasing each year, state and local officials have been pushing for more efficient ways to generate power.

City Councilor Robert Scatamacchia wanted state grants for windmills that could help power the city's water plants. But he was told that Haverhill is not an optimum location because it lacks a powerful natural wind tunnel, and the city would have a difficult time getting state grants.

The city can qualify for solar panels, an option that is still being explored, Scatamacchia said.

"We do have the sun. That no one can take away from us," Scatamacchia said.

Haverhill state Rep. Brian Dempsey, who serves on the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, has already helped Haverhill win a $90,000 state grant this year to put solar panels on the roof of the Citizens Center.

The panels could shave as much as 13 percent from the Citizens Center electricity bill, saving about $5,200 a year. The grant came from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.

Lynch said that Covanta, which generates power by burning trash in the incinerator, invested in the windmill for business reasons. The company also wants to encourage wider use of alternative energy.

"We wanted to put it in a very visible spot," Lynch said, which is why the windmill was placed on the roof of the plant for drivers on I-495 to see.

Bergman said that alternative energies can use some promotion in New England. While the rest of the nation, especially the Midwest, is expanding its use of alternative energy sources, New England lags behind.

BOX

The Haverhill windmill

Energy: Enough to power three homes constantly

Blades: 12 feet long

Turbine: Four feet long, 2 feet in diameter

Cost: $75,000