Wind Put to Good Use in Kittery
Cameron Wake, Kittery Energy Advisory Committee Member
December 19, 2008
KITTERY – Used to be the wind just blew scraps of paper and small plastic bags around at the Kittery Solid Waste Transfer Station. And Kittery residents dutifully sorted their cans and papers and plastics while commenting to their neighbors “sure is windy up here”. One weekend in 2006 a town councilor, Glenn Shwaery, thought that perhaps Kittery could put that wind energy to better use.
The first step was to install a wind anemometer to measure if the 100 foot hill where the transfer station is located had sufficient wind to justify the cost of installing a wind turbine. Data collection began in November 2006 and confirmed that the wind blew strongest during the winter months (no surprise there) and that there should be enough wind to make a wind turbine economically viable.
The entire project shifted from wishful thinking to potential reality when a proposal requesting $50,000 to cover 25% of the cost and installation of a 50-kilowatt wind turbine, written by the Kittery Energy Advisory Committee (KEAC), was funded by the Maine Renewable Resources fund.
The remaining funds for the project were then provided by the Town of Kittery grant match account ($50,000) and borrowed from the solid waste equipment reserve account ($100,000). In the fall of 2007, requests for proposals were sent out to nine companies. Three responded and KEAC unanimously selected the bid from Entegrity Wind Systems for the 50-kilowatt EW50 wind turbine on the basis of the 30 year design life, proven track record, relatively low cost, and five year warranty with operations and maintenance contract included. The town council voted 7-0 in favor of the project.
Site preparation began in the spring of 2007 with final installation in late September. The turbine, which has three 24 foot long blades and sits atop a 125 foot tower, started producing power on October 2nd. Over the past month and a half, it has produced 1715 kilowatt hours of electricity. With stronger winter winds, electricity production should ramp up significantly over the next several months.
From analysis of wind maps for the site, Entegrity estimated that the turbine should produce approximately 80,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year which, at an the current cost of electricity (ten cents per kilowatt hour), translates to $8,000 per year. Additional savings ($1,600 - $2,400) can be generated through the sale of Renewable Energy Credits (also called RECs or green tags), which on average sell for two to three cents per kilowatt hour.
The electricity produced by the wind turbine is sufficient to offset all of the electricity used at the transfer station and about one-quarter of electricity used at Shapleigh Middle School. Under Maine’s “net annual metering” legislation, all of the electricity produced by the wind turbine over the course of a year can be subtracted from overall electricity use at the two facilities.
However, this project is about much more than a demonstration project for renewable wind energy. Plans are currently being developed to integrate renewable wind energy into the curriculum at Shapleigh Middle School. This will include detailed analysis by students of real-time data provided by the wind turbine which includes wind speed, power production, and total power produced, as well as a kiosk by the front door that will display current wind and power productions conditions, total electricity production, and total avoided electrical costs. Real time wind turbine data can also be viewed on the Town of Kittery’s home page (http://kittery.org)
Town manager Jon Carter noted “The wind turbine is both a statement and an educational example by the Town. We are open to experimenting with alternative energy by implementing a sustainable energy project in a prominent public facility that benefits both the town and school departments not only in its energy production but in its ability to educate the general public and school age children.”
The wind turbine in Kittery follows two other wind power projects in southern Maine. A seven kilowatt system was installed on Appledore Island in 2007 to power air quality monitoring equipment as part of a University of New Hampshire research project. And the town of Saco installed a similar Entegrity EW50 wind turbine downtown in February of 2008. A larger wind farm (potentially 20-40 megawatts) is currently being investigated at a site located on a 300-foot ridge across from Marshwood High School in South Berwick.
The Kittery Energy Advisory Committee (KEAC) is a volunteer committee that advises the Kittery Town Council on programs, policies and projects about energy conservation and alternatives. KEAC's goal is to educe energy consumption and develop more sustainable energy practices in the Town of Kittery.
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