Can you imagine a structure almost 300 feet tall, just a mile or so outside Edgartown? Well, a couple of weeks from now, you won’t have to; you’ll be able to see the pictures.

Staff at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) are even now doctoring recent photos taken from various points on Martha’s Vineyard, superimposing the image of a 640-kilowatt wind turbine on them.

It’s all part of a feasibility study, an effort to show people what the visual impact of such a huge turbine would be. That study, which is also assessing noise and completing a site survey, should be done in a month or so, under a $65,000 MTC grant.

Edgartown voters will find an article on next year’s town meeting warrant, seeking approval to build the first large-scale renewable energy development on the Island.

And then, hopes Joe Alosso, the facilities manager for the Edgartown and Oak Bluffs wastewater treatment plants, and a prime mover of the turbine plan), Edgartown will be able to greatly reduce its carbon footprint and save maybe a quarter-million dollars a year in power bills.

Right now, his plan to site the giant turbine at the Edgartown wastewater treatment plant is the Island’s most advanced proposal for large scale alternative energy generation, but it is far from the only one.

With both state and federal governments now apparently serious about renewable energy, and with significant amounts of seed money on offer from various sources, there have been developments on a number of fronts and with a number of planned projects in the past weeks.

They include Cape Wind — the biggest of them all — which has cleared a couple of major regulatory hurdles in recent weeks and now appears, after seven years, close to final approval. Then there is a study into the potential for generating tidal power in the Muskeget Channel, between here and Nantucket, and another wind generation proposal in Tisbury.

And beyond those, are other ideas, only partially-formed at this stage, such as turbines on Noman’s Land and in waters off Tisbury, and other sites on land.

But first, the Edgartown turbine proposal.

“The MTC people awarded us this $65,000,” said Mr. Alosso.

“They came down a couple of weeks ago and we drove around and took pictures from various parts of town. They will superimpose a wind turbine on them, so we can see what the visual effects will be.

“They also are doing another round of noise studies, to see how that works. And a site survey, to hone in on the exact location.

“This will be done in six weeks.

“At that point, it’s time for the town to make some decisions about how serious they are about actually installing a turbine, where the town can vote on whether to go out to bid and get some real hard knowledge on cost and apply for the grants to purchase and install it.”

They will want to be pretty serious. Mr. Alosso said the cost to get the project up and running would be around $2 million, plus or minus $500,000.

“But we’re optimistic the majority of the cost can be funded from other sources, state and federal. We think there will be money available for those types of things, especially with the new national focus on energy.”

“Most likely it will be a warrant article at the April 2010 meeting,” he said.

Mr. Alosso said they were looking at a 640kW Furlander brand turbine, which would stand 270 to 300 feet tall, and which would generate enough electricity to provide 100 per cent of the load at the wastewater treatment plant, which mean a saving of about $150,000 to $175,000 a year.

And there would be enough power left over to either feed back into the grid, or provide for other municipal energy needs.

“We are hopeful we also will have enough to supply the school, which is the next highest power user for municipal buildings. And it uses most power when we’re using least. In summertime they use very little and that’s when I use it all. And in winter when they need more power, we don’t,” he said

He believed the school’s power bills were in the $70,000 to $100,000 range.

The savings would mean the investment would pay for itself in less than 10 years. “If you can get anything in the seven to 10 year range, you’re doing well,” he said.

Beyond that, there are other plans, at the discussion stage.

“There is talk of partnering with all Island towns to possibly put some turbines out on Noman’s Land, which I believe is owned by the town of Chilmark. The MTC has indicated they’re willing to accept an application on that,” Mr. Alsso said.

“And Oak Bluffs is having discussions with Edgartown on possible partnering on the tidal generation proposal.”

As for the idea of generating power from turbines beneath the waves, that has just been given a major boost with the announcement of a $951,000 grant for further studies.

The money will allow more work to be done on mapping currents in the channel, said Kitt Johnson, the chairman of the Edgartown energy committee.

“There were a number of identical grants,” said Mr. Johnson.

“This one went to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus, which has been working with us and Nantucket to develop offshore renewable energy in the Muskeget Channel.

“About a quarter of it is applied directly to activities that will be very important to Edgartown.”

The grant was especially welcome, said Mr. Johnson, because the program had a costly setback late last year.

“Equipment placed in the channel last summer by the UMass was swept away during the fall storms. One piece alone was a $60,000 instrument.

“That was a setback, but the worst part was that we lost all our data,” he said.

On the information now available, he said, they could not confirm any area in the channel would provide enough current to make for a cost-effective installation of generators.

“But one reading we got indicated it might make the cut, so we are very encouraged.”

John Miller, director of the university’s advanced technology manufacturing center, said the initial results suggest there is enough energy at some locations to generate tidal electricity.

“There’s of course the matter of economics, that still needs to be determined. But there’s ncertainly enough to test devices,” he said.

And there is some way to go. The world’s first commercial system is only now being installed in waters off Scotland. Quite apart from issues of the strength of the cuurent flow here, there are issues of the “survivability” of generating equipment.

The broader plan would see the area designated as an offshore renewable energy, that would extend from Muskeget to the south, that could include wind and perhaps wave energy test systems too.

The prospect of tidal power is still realistically some years away. A much closer prospect is the Cape Wind project, which now looks close to the final stages of approval.

Following the favorable environmental impact assessment it received in January from the lead federal permitting agency, the Minerals Management Service, the state’s energy facilities siting board last week voted unanimously to issue a composite certificate, including the last necessary state approvals.

What hurdles remain?

“We’re awaiting still the record of decision from the Minerals Management Service,” said Mark Rodgers, a spokesman for the developers.

“We’re very gratified to have got that unanimous vote last week from the siting board. And to have, a few weeks earlier got a favorable decision from the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management.

Secretary [of the Department of the Interior, Ken] Salazar was asked about this at a Senate hearing this morning [Tuesday] and said he expected them to issue the record of decision in the next few months.

“If its favorable, it would most likely be accompanied by a lease with terms and conditions.

“We would expect about the Army Corps of Engineers to make their permitting decision in about the same time frame,” he said.

“And the last thing is the Federal Aviation Authority. We are meeting with them and we are hoping this results in them issuing a new determination of no hazards [to aircraft].

“We would expect by June that all these things will have run their course.”

There remains, of course, the possibility of further delays arising from legal actions by opponents, who Mr. Rodgers said “have been quite litigious in the past.”

“We hope in a few months to be in a position to become America’s first permitted and licensed offshore wind farm,” he said.

It has been a long road.

“I think our original time frame had us commissioning the project in 2005,” Mr. Rodgers said.

One proposal which is not looking so good now is that to put a wind turbine, comparable in scale to the Edgartown one, at the Tisbury landfill.

Chris Fried, chairman of the Tisbury energy committee, said the MTC officials had not been impressed by the site, at the Tisbury landfill.

“The landfill is a bit small as regards setbacks from houses. It has power lines going through it. And it’s on a capped landfill, which make installation difficult, because 15 or 20 feet of trash which you can’t get a solid foundation into.

“Right now we’re not sure if we’ll be able to move forward,” Mr. Fried said.

He wrote to the MTC last week, in hopes they will reconsider.