Posts Tagged ‘Iowa’

Reconditioned Turbine, Remanufactured Wind Turbine

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

School wind projects and community wind projects are considered medium sized requirements.  So, costs are important and quick return on investment more important.

For most of these wind projects that I am working on I am quoting and recommending remanufactured & refurbished turbines for wind farms.

The question of remanufactured turbines comes up in most every new wind power project. Using the reconditioned wind turbines, or remanufactured wind turbines, the cost to fund a project and get installation are much lower and therefore makes more sense.  Frankly, it can be the difference in making a project make sense or not.

Normal Questions Asked Are:

(1) What’s difference n Remanufactured and Reconditioned Turbine?

(1) What is Projected Life of the Turbines being quoted/installed.

(2) Efficiency, we only work with best models, successful turbines.

(3) What are Operation and Maintenance Costs

(4) What is Installed Cost per Kilowatt

Reconditioned Turbine – a wind turbine where the condition of each of the main components are evaluated, then repaired or upgraded as needed. The turbines from WindEnergy7.com have been carefully de-installed in good working condition to make room for larger wind turbines.  This creates a nice cost effective inventory of wind turbines for smaller school and community wind projects. These turbines can be reinstalled with minimal upgrade, depending on their condition and how long it’s been since they were de-installed. Our reconditioned turbines are available for reinstall and are already reconditioned when we sell them for a community wind project.

Remanufactured Turbines – The main moving components of these turbines have been re-manufactured to new or better than new standards, very thorough. The controls, gearbox, hub, generator, hydraulic system are all thoroughly remanufactured and restored.  The most experienced turbine mechanics evaluate the condition of the remanufactured turbine.  These turbines get delivered with a full technical reporting of the remanufacturing processes and as a result, they come with warranty periods.

Used Turbines – Sometimes referred to as raw turbines.  This is a turbine sold in “as is” condition. I never recommend or get involved with the sale of a used, as-is turbine because of the risk involved.  And I carefully advise anyone, before you buy any remanufactured or reconditioned wind turbines, please allow me and my suppliers to show you what we can do, competitively before you buy reconditioned or remanufactured trbines anywhere.

Cost of remanufactured and reconditioned turbines can vary. Again, please allow WindEnergy7.com to help you out here. We really prefer to quote these as fully Installed cost.  This is better so we can be sure you are happy in the end. The installed cost includes the foundation, tower, turbine, electrical interface, wiring, engineering, program management and all components necessary to make the turbine a functioning/generating unit.  We will be glad to work with whatever team you have in place, but if you haven’t aligned all these services, let us help.

Remanufactured/Reconditioned Wind Turbines vs. New:

Remanufactured turbine cost for 40kW to 600kW class turbine, usually in range of $1,000 per kW. 

Cost of New turbines in this size/class, 40kW to 600kW, usually in the range of $1,700 per kW.

Compare to Utility sized new turbines, sizes from 1,500 kW to 3,500 kW = around $3,800 kW.

At a dramatically lower cost than the new turbine, the ROI (return on investment) of our remanufactured/reconditioned wind turbines is SO MUCH FASTER . So, your project is simply more successful as a financial endeavor, repaying loan costs at a quicker pace.

With ability to provide same warranty and have the remanufacturing or refurbishing done by the best mechanics and most experienced people i this industry, your  ongoing operation and maintenance costs will be similar.

Supply & Demand – If you have a project, or a proposed project, please email me immediately and begin discussion.  The new turbine supply is overloaded right now.  There are many manufacturers with contracts that cannot be fulfilled for a couple of years out.  Due to number of current projects, we do prefer email comminication is best, contact us at:

If you are interested in starting a wind project for your residence or acreage, contact us. To Buy a Wind Turbine or Become a Dealer, Please fill out our Contact Form. The system will automatically send you some additional info.

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Iowa, Eldora-New Providence School wind turbine in 2002!

Saturday, July 12th, 2008

In Iowa, the Eldora-New Providence Schoolput in their 750kW NEG Micon wind turbine. The superintendent, Bill Grove reported that he expects the school to save $10,000 to $20,000 in addition to paying it’s loan payments over a 10 year loan period. As soon as the turbine is paid off, the school’s savings could increase tenfold. The turbine is expected to produce approximately 1.5 million kWh per year. Since the school uses a little less than 1 million kWh, it expects the excess power to bring income to use for educational programs.

eldora-new-province-school-wind-turbine-iowa

Others expect the project to pay for itself in approximately seven years. Analysis indicates the school can expect to earn a return on its investment of 13%. The electricity from the wind turbine is considered “inflation proof,” so if the cost of electricity rises, thus do the economic benefits from making such a smart decision.

The financing these schools receive includes some income from a federal program called the Renewable Energy Production Incentive (REPI).  The REPI was designed for incentive, so public entities that are not eligible for the federal wind energy production tax credit can still get help for wind energy. Payments from REPI are uncertain, however, because the fund relies on annual Congressional appropriations. The economics of a wind project is a great price for the electricity the turbine produces.

In most of the successful school wind projects, the local utility “net meters” the output.  With net metering, in months when the turbine produces more than the school uses, that excess value is banked with the utility to offset bills when the school needs more than the turbine produces. But, only Iowa and Ohio currently allow net metering without a size limitation on the turbine. MidAmerican Utility in Iowa has successfully applied to the Iowa Utilities Board to limit the capacity for net metering in its service territory to 500-kW, and other utilities are following suit. In lieu of net metering for large turbines, higher buy-back rates for non-profit entities could be a solution.

Six schools in Iowa have wind turbines in operation near their campuses: Sentral School in Fenton has a 65-kW Windmatic turbine, Nevada High School in Story County has one 250-kW Wind World turbine; Clay Central/Everly Community School District in Royal has a 95-kW turbine; Akron-Westfield installed a 600-kW Vestas turbine in 1999; and Clarion-Goldfield High School in Wright County installed a 50-kW AOC turbine in 2002.

If you are interested in starting a wind project for your acreage, school district, or local government, contact us at WindEnergy7.

To Buy a Wind Turbine or Become a Dealer, Please fill out our Contact Form. The system will automatically send you some additional info.

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Iowa, Forest City School has Wind Turbine since 1999!

Saturday, July 12th, 2008

The Forest City Community School has a 600-kilowatt wind turbine. The project was financed through a combination of a loan from the Iowa Energy Center’s Alternative Energy Revolving Loan Program and a low-interest loan from the local bank.forest-city-iowa-school-wind-turbine

Dwight Pierson, the Superintendant said “When we got started, no grant monies were available for a wind project. We understood we’d have to finance it, so we spent seven or eight months looking at the figures”. “We really felt it could pay for itself and become an asset for the district. At the time, we had one of the only turbines around that was totally financed, all through conventional loans.”

A Federal Renewable Energy Production Incentive of 1.5 cents per kilowatthour was recieved by the school. Including the incentive, the turbine has generated $284,000 (more than 4.7 million kilowatthours) worth of electricity between January 1999, when it became operational, and February 2004.

“Installing the turbine was a bold decision for our board to make,” Pierson says, “but its decision was made on good input, and the cost investment penciled out.”

At Forest City’s School it was a student who had the idea to install a wind turbine. A student in Ron Kvale’s physics class, Paul Smith, became interested in wind energy. The stdent measured the winds around the school finding that the land might be a viable site for a turbine. Smith and his teacher presented this to the school board, the board liked it. The school conducted an energy audit, that helped reduce the school’s energy use so less of the wind turbine’s electricity would be wasted.

Pierson speaks of the Forest City School wind project with pride. “This has been a win-win for our community, a real asset,” he said. “And we actually underestimated how much of an asset it would be.”

To Buy a Wind Turbine or Become a Dealer, Please fill out our Contact Form. The system will automatically send you some additional info.

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School District Makes Profits from Wind Power

Monday, July 7th, 2008

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Beginning in the year 2007, when both turbines are paid for, the Spirit Lake Community Schools district will have about $120,000 tax free income from the clean, renewable northwest Iowa wind to use to improve education for the children of the Spirit Lake Community School District.wind energy school district
 
The visionary leaders at Spirit Lake Community Schools began studying the use of wind as a renewable source of energy for the district in September of 1991. Early in the study a partnership was formed with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
 
In the following year, data was collected to:
>- Measure the wind speed on the proposed site
>- Analyze the districts electrical costs
>- Get acquainted with wind turbine manufacturing
>- Understand both federal and state rules and regulations
>- Study existing wind turbine sites
 
The study revealed a strong indication of total investment return in 8.5 years.

Once the vision was established, Spirit Lake Community Schools applied for a grant from the Department of Energy for three turbines; one each for the elementary, middle and high school. The high school was rejected because of the cost of the conversion necessary to switch from a different electrical phase. The middle school was rejected because the DOE does not fund new buildings. In December 1992, the elementary school received a grant for $119,000 for one turbine to supply electrical energy.

Specifications for the wind turbine were prepared and three bids were received in the spring of 1993. The successful bidder was Minnesota Wind Power of Marshall, Minnesota with a bid to provide and install one wind generator at a cost of $239,500.

To offset the additional cost not covered by the DOE grant, the project was funded by a low interest loan through the Energy Council of the Department of Natural Resources.
Payoff Comes Swiftly

On July 22, 1993, the wind turbine on the lawn of the Spirit Lake Elementary School began producing electricity. Ninety months later, the school’s turbine had produced 1,570,000 kilowatt hours of electricity which would have cost the district $124,900. This is enough electricity for 264 average Spirit Lake homes for a year. In addition to providing all of the electricity for the 53,000 square foot elementary school, it also produced a reimbursement from the utility company of almost $25,000.

The final payment for the loan on turbine was made during 1998, 3.5 years ahead of schedule. Today the almost $25,000 savings go to the school’s instructional program.

How Wind Energy Works

The props turn whenever there is wind. It generates electricity after the generator turns at 1790 rpm, which requires a wind of around 7.5 mph at the 140 foot level.

The system is being monitored constantly in several ways. The primary method is by computer from the office of the district’s Director of Buildings and Grounds, Mr. Jim Tirevold. The computer monitors wind speed, electricity being produced in real time for the day, in addition to cumulative totals.

As of July 1, 2004, the turbine has generated on average 312,309 kWh of electricity annually. To generate an equivalent amount of electricity, it would take 549 barrels of oil or 156 tons of coal. It would take 285 trees to absorb the carbon dioxide emitted by this oil or coal.

There is no storage capacity. During peak demand and /or low winds the district purchases electricity from Alliant Energy and during excess production, Alliant Energy purchases electricity from the school. The district utilizes net billing. Currently, if the district uses less than what is produced Alliant will purchase the excess energy for 6.02 cents. If the district uses more than produced, Alliant sells to us for 8.5 cents.

Farming the Wind

In addition to its excellent financial success, the school’s wind turbine has been used in school classes as an educational tool and it has made a significant contribution to the environment. The district has had over 400 visitors since that warm day in July of 1993 when the turbine began producing. A number of schools in the area and their students have shown particular interest in the project as they study the use of renewable sources of energy.

A Second Turbine is Added

Once it was established that the wind turbine had indeed been a great success and asset to the district, plans went quickly into effect for the second turbine. On October 29, 2001, the NEG Micon 750 KWH tubular tower turbine became operational and was well on its way to providing power for the entire school district.

The NEG Micon has an anticipated life span of 30 years. It stands 25 feet taller than the original turbine on a 165-foot base. The wingspan is almost double the size of the Windworld turbine at 157 feet in diameter compared to 87 feet. The size of the rotor diameter is approximately that of the wing space of a DC-10 jumbo jet, and it is designed to withstand hurricane type wind speeds of 131 mph. The new turbine will not only provide energy for all of the remaining school facilities and athletic fields, but also an additional educational resource for Spirit Lake students.

The district borrowed $780,00 to complete the installation of the turbine, and anticipates a 6 V2 year pay back period. The energy bills offset each year equal approximately $118,000, which can be used for other district programs after the 6 V2 year period is complete. The financing of the turbine included a $250,000 no-interest loan from the Iowa Energy Center and a $580,000 Iowa Department of Natural Energy loan from a commercial bank with interest at 5.1%.

To Buy a Wind Turbine or Become a Dealer, Please fill out our Contact Form. The system will automatically send you some additional info.

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