Posts Tagged ‘wind energy’

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.”

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Wray School District of Colorado, Wind Turbines

Friday, July 11th, 2008

/wray-colorado-school-wind-turbineOver the past five years the Wray School District has experienced countless highs and lows in the process of completing the wind turbine project.  The wind turbine is going through its final adjustments to go online.wray-colorado-school-wind-turbine

The small district spends approximately $80,000 a year on electricity. Our Wray High School Vo-Ag instructor, Jay Clapper, proposed to the district that it consider the construction of a wind turbine. This project would offset the district’s annual energy costs and provide a renewable energy educational component to the school’s curriculum.  The Board of Education agreed to support this idea, and a wind committee, including Mr. Clapper and a number of interested Wray citizens, was formed.

In December, the Wray School District Board of Education voted to approve the purchase of a 900 KW wind turbine. This project will be built on land recently purchased by the City of Wray and located south of Wray on Highway 385 near County Road JJ. The City of Wray and the Board of Education have partnered together through a power purchase agreement to see this project become a reality. It’s a Grid-Tie system, so the renewable energy captured from this wind turbine project will flow into the city grid for consumer use.wray-colorado-school-wind-turbine

When the group started the Wray School Wind Project nobody knew how complicated the process was going to be. They stuck it out, the City of Wray will have the green power generated by the turbine.  The “flip the switch” ceremony was, two months ago. Since then they’ve been troubleshooting the equipment, making final adjustments, passing mandated inspections and becoming familiar with the network of equipment and personnel that will provide technical support to this new turbine.

The blades turn evenly in the wind, but only by the perseverance of school personnel and community support does this thing work. By providing an environmentally safe source of power to this community, the visionary leaders added financial support to the education of their students. They have eased a tax burden, enhanced education, and improved their environment, that’s leadership.wray-colorado-school-wind-turbine-

wray-colorado-school-wind-turbineNow, here to the right is where it ties to the grid.  Not real dramatic is it?  I love it when a good plan comes together.  Congratulations to the Wray School District and all the great leaders who performed this project.  Nice work folks.wray-colorado-school-wind-turbine

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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Ballinger Texas School District Wind Power Project

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

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Ballinger Independent School District’s is progressing with the 2007 CREBs proposed community wind project for the construction of Mitsubishi 250 turbines to power the schools electrical needs.

The Texas school district in Ballinger prepared and submitted applications for federal Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) in 2007.  Ballinger was awarded the equivalent of about 1 million dollars (or 750 KW) in bond sales.  CREBs legislation requires the first bond payment be made by the end of 2008, thus construction continues this summer.ballinger texas school wind energy project

Ballinger’s superintendent Scott Goen met with the wires company which services the Ballinger district, AEP, on February the 19th 2007 to discuss power sale options. 

The plans are to construct three community wind sized turbines at the end of the high school campus’s soccer fields.  These 250-KW Mitsubishi turbines are remanufactured, which means that since previous operation they underwent significant overhauls, such as generator rewinding, gearbox rebuilding, hub re-surfacing, new controls and rebuilt hydraulics. 

Ballinger ISD is enhancing the district financial stability by establishing the district’s ability to generate its own power.  Ballinger ISD plans to offset district energy costs with behind the meter interconnection.

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Texas Wind Farm, Indian Mesa, Pecos County

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

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Wind farms in west Texas have been located in mountainous areas near Fort Davis, Guadalupe Peak, the mesas east of Fort Stockton, and near Big Spring and Sweetwater. That the initial investment in Fort Stockton was about $200 million.indan-mesa-wind-farm-pecos-county-texas

The Indian Mesa Wind Farm is located in Pecos County, Texas. The project was completed in 2001. One hundred twenty-five Vestas V-47 wind turbines produce up to 83 Megawatts of electricity. Electricity produced by the project is purchased by the Lower Colorado River Authority, Austin, Texas, and TXU Energy Trading Company, Dallas, Texas. The project is connected to the transmission lines of American Electric Power subsidiary West Texas Utilities. The project is built on land owned by local ranching families and by the University of Texas.

The successful wind plant funded by Fort Stockton on I-10 in eastern Pecos County, and the plant near Big Spring generate revenue by selling electricity to electric companies.  These funds are to pay the loan back within a few years.  After the financing is paid off, the revenue would be a benefit, an income.

Much of West Texas is suitable for wind farms since there is plenty of wind and a good infrastructure of high voltage transmission lines.  Texas lawmakers created a hungry market when they wrote a law nine years ago that requires utilities to buy renewable power. On the federal level, a tax credit encourages investors to put money into wind power.

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El Paso County TX Wind Farm, Hueco Mountain

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

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Located near the Hueco Mountains east of Horizon City, about 35 miles from the City of El Paso’s downtown district is a wind farm, El Paso Electric’s Hueco Mountain Wind Ranch.  The first wind energy generating project in  El Paso County. Resulting from customer suggestions that EPE acquire renewable resources and give customers the opportunity to voluntarily select renewable energy as a power source.texas wind energy hueco wind ranch

The EPE Hueco Wind Ranch has two 660 kilowatt V-47 Vestas wind turbines.  These Vestas turbines have 77-ft.-long rotor blades (154 ft. diameter) mounted on 213-ft. towers. Built in Denmark, the turbines were shipped to the U.S. in January 2001. The top two sections of the three section towers were constructed at Bergen Steel of Canutillo, Texas, and the bottom section was built in Utah.

The vestas 660kW wind turbines are expected to eventually generate approximately 3,000,000 kWh of electricity a year, which is equivalent to the energy needed to power approximately 500 average El Paso households.  Wind turbines in this area will generate the most energy during the winter and spring months.

Cielo Wind Power LLC was selected in January 2000 to develop this wind energy project at an approximate cost of $2.2 million. In December 2000, EPE contracted with Cielo Wind Power LLC to build the wind project and perform operations and maintenance services. Construction on the project began in late December 2000.  This project serves as another example of profitable use of wind turbine technology.

Wind turbines do not generate any emissions to air or water and do not produce hazardous waste. Wind turbines don’t deplete natural resources such as coal, oil, or gas, or cause environmental damage through resource extraction and transportation. The pollution-free electricity generated by wind turbine technology is helping to reduce the environmental pollution in the U.S. and worldwide.

Today, Texas is the leading producer of clean renewable wind power.  Texas has 4,112 megawatts of wind generation capacity as a result of their leadership and vision in wind energy since 1995.  Today Texas wind energy projects are moving forward at a tremendous rate with another 1,478 MW of capacity under construction and 8,012 MW planned and announced.  No other state has more deployed wind energy than the Lone Star state and at this rate, no-one will catch them either.

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School District in Illinois purchasing wind turbines?

Friday, July 4th, 2008

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This Illinois School District is considering the purchase wind turbines.  In Popular Grove Illinois, The North Boone Community Unit School District is seriously considering wind turbines for rural campus.  The district has been studying wind energy as a way to reduce its energy costs.

Ward says turbines would serve an educational purpose and save the district tens of thousands on energy costs.  Students could study wind power and learn about renewable energy. Wind turbines and alternative sources of energy are very relevant to students today.illinois school wind energy windmill

Don Ward, the school board president has found that one to three wind turbines can generate electricity to power the district’s four buildings.  Many school districts in Illinois have already installed wind turbines, North Boone is hoping to follow suit as well as many other Illinois schools. Ward says the installation of wind turbines can cut the districts energy costs and utilize renewable energy.

In a rural area just north of Poplar Grove, the schools lie in a good location for wind turbines.  Since the campus isn’t in a suburban area or city, Ward said wind turbines would be able to work well because they would be placed in a setting capable of producing viable wind power.

The strongest winds blow from September to June aligning with the school year calendar. Though wind turbines are expensive — a large one costs anywhere from $1.5 to $2 million while smaller ones cost upwards of $250,000 — Ward said they have a seven-year payback on the district’s investment and would save the district thousands of dollars each year in energy costs. The district currently spends $150,000 a year on electricity. Wind turbines generally have a 20-30 year life span making them a quick payback and good investment financially.

At an annual conference of school board members in Chicago the shool district heard about others investing in wind energy.  At this conference, many schools in Illinois gave presentations on their wind turbines, this started the school board thinking turbines would be a good investment for the district.

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Texas Wind Energy is Great Success in Culberson County

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Van Horn Texas Wind EnergyThe Delaware Mountain Wind Farm in Culberson County Texas is been in operation since going live in 1999.  This site has wind turbines producing 30 MW of green renewable energy.

American National Wind Power is a subsidiary of National Wind Power. This wind farm is National Wind Power’s (NWP) first project in Texas and is located in Culberson County, northeast of the town of Van Horn in West Texas. The ranch on which it is built is used for raising cattle and deer and is also the site of the West Texas Wind Farm Power Project, described below.  Given the right legislative environment, NWP plan  to develop it to a full potential of 250MW. The power produced by the Delaware Mountain Wind Farm is purchased by the Lower Colorado River Authority (Austin, Texas) and Reliant Energy HL&P (Houston, Texas) for distribution to their customers.

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