My graphics design team and I came up with this conceptual drawing of a wind farm in Haines Alaska.   Depending on the size of the wind turbines, this wind farm can create from 9 to 18 mw of power.  The town right now only uses 3 to 4 MW of power.  The extra power could be used to create a hydrogen refueling station for a fleet of fuel cell powered fishing boats at the small boat harbor.

I got the second anemenoter fully operational and recording on the internet - go to www.weatherlink.com and zoom in on Haines Alaska.   The two anemoneters are about a mile apart but the wind direction and velocity could be hundreds of miles apart.   Right now, the wind is gusting at the Mud Bay weather station in excess of 60 MPH from the south.  The weather station up on the hill is actually reading “calm” with a gust of 40 MPH from two hours ago.    Maybe the solution out here is to use both as when it’s very windy up on the hill, it might be quite a bit calmer at the sea level location.  Time will tell what is the best approach.

If you think you have an area that would offer sufficient wind to create energy from wind power, you need to do a wind feasibility study.   A wind feasibility study gives you measured data so you know the direction, and speed of the wind at various times of the year.   Without the measured data, you are making an uneducated guess about the viability of the site for creating wind power.

Right now I am doing two wind feasibility studies on two different locations.   The first wind study, it took about a month to get all the equipment working correctly to accurately log the wind speed and direction over the internet.

The first problem I ran into was location.   I had a large pole already on my property that I thought I could mount the weather station.   The location of the pole was in a wind shadow on the property - so while it was in a convenient location for me to capture the wireless data and be able to view it via the internet, it was not in the location where there was sufficient wind to create power from a wind turbine.   So I had to move the weather station to the windier location on the property.    I needed mounting equipment to do this.  It took several attempts to get the weather station to stay upright, especially in high winds.  I finally got the weather station pole to stay up right in high winds by attaching three 75 foot twisted wire cables to the pole anchored into the ground by three foot long steel posts (the type used in pouring concrete).

The new location of the weather station was not close to the house with the internet connection.  I tried a signal booster from the wireless transponder on the weather station - but there were large boulders in between where the weather station was and the weather station receiver.   So I had to get a DSL connection into a small house by the weather station.   After about two weeks of collecting data, we noticed that there was a stand of trees about 50 feet in front of the weather station that was blocking most of the winds from the south from reaching the weather station.  You guessed it, down they came (they were on my property).   It didn’t make any sense to block the wind from the proposed wind turbine site or the weather station collecting data to assess the speed and direction of the wind.

The second weather station is up on a hill where I have another piece of property.  The neighbors had a large telephone pole I could use to mount the anemometer (measures wind speed and direction).   They also had electricity and an internet DSL connection.   We mounted the anemometer on their pole, hooked up the weather station inside their house and connected it to the internet.  IT WORKED.   For a day.   Then they disconnected it claiming it was messing up their internet connection.   Not sure how this could be - but regardless, it required that I have a temporary power pole connected on my property and the phone company connect DSL and a phone line on my empty lot so that I could continue the wind feasibility study.

Having set up two of these wind feasibility studies now, I’m learning.   Here is what is required to set up a wind feasibility study:

1. Figure out where the wind blows the strongest and the most consistently on the property where you want to put up a wind turbine.  You might need to clear some trees, or remove structures obstructing the flow of wind through your area.

2. Determine how you are going to mount your weather station or anemometer- make sure you mount it about the same height as your wind turbine will be.   The higher you go, the stronger the wind gets and the more you will need to take measures to keep the equipment upright.

3. Get the equipment - some states have weather station loaning programs.   You will still have to get the mounting equipment as this varies based on location.   If you want your own weather station long term, I recommend the Davis Vantage Pro 2 Wireless Weather Station.  It comes with a solar powered transponder that sends all the weather station data to the Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather station console.  Get it with the internet connectivity equipment.   You can get the USB connector to just download the information from the weather console onto your computer - HOWEVER, it is far easier to connect the weather station console to the internet and see the data from wherever you are.

I found it easiest to purchase it directly from Davis Instruments.   They are very prompt and I got my equipment within three days up in rural Alaska.   You do not need to get the entire weather station, but it costs as much as the anemometer, solar transponder and weather console.   The ONLY reason I would NOT get the entire weather station is because the large rain bucket from the weather station puts too much weight on the weather station pole.   If you can securely anchor the weather station pole and the weight isn’t a problem, just get the entire weather station.   It provides a much more comprehensive picture of the weather where you would want to put a wind turbine.

4. When you get the equipment, set it all up indoors to make sure it works BEFORE you mount it outside.  This means assembling all the parts, hooking up the solar transponder, and making sure the weather station console is picking up the data.  Once you get that working, then you can connect your weather station to the internet.  This is extremely simple as you just plug the internet adapter into the weather console and connect it to your DSL modem.   You may need to get an ethernet hub so you can plug in multiple devices to your DSL (computer, weather station, etc).   The weatherlink software explains how to set up the weather station on www.weatherlink.com.   It also explains how to download the weather data onto your system with their weatherlink software.   You can also track your weather data on the Weather Underground station.  This takes a bit more work.   But it is fairly simple if you are technically oriented.  If using the internet in anyway confuses you, hire someone to help you set this up as you will save yourself a lot of headaches.

5. Once the system is working inside the house, now it’s time to mount the system outside.   If you have a clear line of site from where you are mounting your weather station to your house where the weather console is, you are done.  If not, you have to get power and an internet connection to within line of site at your weather station location.

How much does this cost?

That depends on your mounting requirements, site prep requirements, availability of power and internet.

Basic costs could include:

1. Clear trees - one day of labor - I had the tractor and the guys already working for me.  Land clearing estimates would apply - $100 per hour for the equipment and $25 per hour for each laborer.  Four hours of work - $600.

2. Mounting the hardware - three days of experimenting and the mounting hardware.  Cost for my labor - I’m free (for my projects) but you could expect to pay someone who knows what they are doing $150 an hour.   Cost for the hardware - $350.  Cost for the installation - estimate $600.

3. Cost of the weather station equipment - $1100.   I still have to return the signal repeater I purchased that did not work, that was an extra $300.

4. Cost of temporary power - $250 to install.  Estimating $25 per month (on the high side)

5. Cost of the phone line and dsl - $50 per month.

6. Cost to monitor the wind study - again my time is “free” on my projects - I spend about an hour a week looking at the reports.   If you have to pay someone, estimate $500 per month.

Total Cost for a Year Long Wind Study (if you’re paying someone else to do it) = $9800.  This does not include their travel costs.   If you can “borrow” the equipment,  use existing poles, and tie into existing power and internet,  hypothetically, you can do this for no cost.     The more you can do yourself,  obviously the less it will cost.    If you’re doing this for someone else, they should pay you as they are going to get a payback from your efforts.

How long does it take?

That depends on where the wind feasibility site is.  If you don’t have power and dsl - it could take up to a month to get the whole system installed.   If the site for the weather station is ready, estimate a week to get the equipment and a couple hours to set it up and install it.  If you’ve never done this before, estimate a month for the first one to work out all the bugs.

A note here - if you are doing a wind study in a remote location - you really need to think about how you are going to use the power that you are creating in this remote location.   If you are going to create the power for use by a small community - you will need transmissions lines out to the site.  You can get remote data loggers for the anemometers - and pull the information off the data loggers when you visit the site. This will add to the cost and complexity of doing the wind study.

Michelle LaBrosse, PMP

I have been doing a wind feasibility study on a property in Alaska since April for a small 5kw wind mill I want to install for basic home use.   I have another piece of property that could be a potential location for small community wind farm.   After studying what else is going on in Alaska and talking with folks in the power industry up here, it appears the largest impediment to these small rural Alaskan wind farms is not the funding as the state has already approved $50 million in funding per year, but it is the land that needs to be set aside to create the wind farm.  Well that problem is solved in my location, because I own it.   So, now it’s onto evaluating the feasibility of that location for wind power.  

Here are some links I’ve been studying to get smarter on a community wind farm in rural alaska:

1. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Economics of Wind Power Report - Feb. 2005

2.  The Annual Report on US Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends, 2006. 

It doesn’t appear there has been another “annual” report issued by the Department of Energy. 

3.  State of Alaska calls for more rural wind farms - Jan. 28, 2009 - Anchorage Daily News

Some key points:

• AK plans to spend $100 million on wind farms to bring down rural electric rates that are being driven up by the price of diesel for diesel generators.  
• Reduction in the price of electricity is 15% from the wind energy projects.
• Alaska Energy Authority is slated to spend $50 million per year in renewable energy projects around the state. 
• Getting permission to use the land and the building permits appears to hold up the process for many of these rural wind farms.
• The existing wind farms have reduced the use of diesel generated electricity by up to 50,000 gallons per year.

In Michael Porter’s book on Competitive Strategies, he talks about the competitive forces that shape an industry.   One of the main competiitve forces that impact almost every industry is the source of their energy.   The more options businesses create for their sources of power, the more competitive they will be long term - espcially with respect to other companies in their industry.  

This point was brought home recently by a business I have been working with on assessing, aligning, and expanding their energy options.  The company is a small speciality grocery who has seen his electrical bills go up from $700 to $7000 dollars over the past 20 years while his overall consumption has decreased due to efficiency improvements in his refrigeration.   When deregulation went into effect, he was able to get a lower electrical rate from an out of state provider, yet had to still pay the local carrier for delivering the electricty.   And then last year with the dramatic increase in heating oil prices,  it was the first year his company didn’t turn a profit.  

With electrical rates expected to experience a simiar increase over the next 20 years.  and the impact of volatile oil prices on his long term viability,  the business owner wants to develop his own power solutions.   The more options he can create to power his store, the less he will pay for his power, the more competitive he will be and the lower he can charge for his products or the more profit he can make on the products he charges that are in line with his local competitors.  

Through the Project  Energy Independence course, we are looking at two solutions - one for creating his own electricty with roof solar panels and another for heating his store with a removable wood furnace.  He doesn’t own the store so any solution he selects, he wants to do it with minimal infrastructure changes - these two solutions enable that.   There is a  whole foods store in a community 25 miles away that is using a fuel cell as a back up electrical generator - we are looking into some grant money to explore that option.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has a website where you can enter your zip code and it will show how your electricity is generated, and the byproducts of that electrical generation.   What amazes me is how the companies creating electricity that causes long term damage to the environment are not responsible for paying the costs of that long term damage.   We are in fact subsidizing our own demise here with the pollution output by the burning of fossil fuels (including coal) to generate electricity.

I entered my zip code for Nevada and found out that  almost half the power for Northern Nevada (for 2005) was generated by hydro power, about a third was generated by coal, a tenth by natural gas, and about 2 - 3 percent between nuclear and other renewable forms.  Electricity generated from oil was just a fraction of a percent.    And for this type of power, Northern Nevada creates about 2/3 the average of CO2 emissions as the rest of the country, and 1/5th the sulfer dioxide emissions of the rest of the country (the hydro power probably is bringing that number down).

how-clean-is-the-electricity

E-Fuel Corporation, a Silicon Valley startup, has created a backyard refueling station that looks about as difficult as making beer. Okay - maybe easier than making beer as it doesn’t require all the vessel transfers. It uses water, sugar, and yeast to create ethanol. It takes ten gallons of sugar (unusual measurement for a dry product) to create one gallon of ethanol. Over a week, the system can create 35 gallons of fuel. This means you’d have to have 350 gallons of sugar on hand on a weekly basis to create the ethanol. Where do you store all that sugar? What I do really like about this though is that this is set up for the individual to create their own fuel. They are selling these now, but delivery is not until fourth quarter this year. For just $9995 you can have your own ethanol back yard refueling station.

I love the name of this one - the Freedom Fueler. It’s the home biodiesel maker. You just need to collect waste oil from your local fry house. They have several different models - the entry level one is $3495 and can produce 40 gallons of fuel with just 30 minutes of effort. With 80 gallons of waste oil and 22 gallons of methanol, you produce 80 gallons of biodiesel with a by product of 22 gallons of glycerin. Glycerin is used in hand lotions, and in creating nitroglycerin (the explosive). Additionally, biodiesel has a high clouding temperature and is not suitable for use in cold climates without putting in a winterizing additive or blending it with diesel oil.

My ideal is to have an algae biofuel system that can create 35 gallons per day of algae biofuel from a small back yard system. In my ideal system, you grow your own algae and have the compressor set up to automatically create the fuel. Considering algae doubles in size every day, you’d have to get the right strain that would grow the best for your area. The ability to do this is much further away than fourth quarter this year so I might go with this micro fuel system first while the algae biofuel technology becomes more developed.   There are varying levels of success so far with algae biodiesel, yet tremendous research is happening on this front - Ames Laboratory is testing out an idea that would produce 10,000 gallons of algae biodiesel per year on just 1 acre of land.  If they are successful, a smaller scale back yard operation producing the amount of fuel a small family needs to heat their home and fuel their vehicles is possible.

I’ve been evaluating the various ways to power properties in three different locations over the past several months and have found a bewildering number of options to do just that.  Some are still in the twinkle in the eye phase of development, others are more proven, but my gosh the price tag makes you feel like you’re underwater gasping for air. Basically anywhere you live you need power for three functions:

1. Run Electrical appliances.
2. Heat and Cool Your Dwelling
3. Get you from point A to point B.

So here are the three locations I’ve been evaluating, the options, and the feasibility of those options.

Alaska - this property is on the Lynn Canal - a very deep fjord about 70 miles northwest of Juneau.    The local population is very pro-environmental so there is wide acceptance for doing alternative energy solutions.   The property actually just got on the grid less than ten years ago so it is already set up to be off the grid.  It has a large 20kw diesel generator that powers the main house and three outbuildings that includes an apartment.   It used to house a very large windmill in a field and the wiring still exists to the main generator shed. The home and hot water are currently heated with a diesel furnace.   Propane provides cooking fuel.   There are options to put in a geothermal heat pump system.  The piping can either be run underground or can be placed out in the water.    The approximate cost to do that is $20,000.  Current heating oil costs on that site are $5000 per year.   The site also has strong gusting winds sometimes over 70 MPH.   There is a 5kw windmill by Helix Wind that can handle wind from all directions and large gusts.    The cost is approximately $20,000.    Current electrical costs are $4000 per year.   Reducing the electrical usage is somewhat difficult as the custom home was built using approximately 14 different types of light fixtures.  It is not an easy matter of just replacing incandescent bulbs with florescent bulbs - most of the light fixtures need to be replaced.  There is also a green house that has high wattage metal halyide lights.   

To modify the home’s heat and electrical sources is possible, but may not be desirable.   The windmill would be the easiest to implement solution since the electrical system is already set up to be off the grid.   The Geothermal Heat Pump system would be considerably more difficult as there are no qualified installers in the area and doing the piping into the water, even though it is a closed loop system, would require special permitting and may not be allowed.   Doing a horizontal or vertical closed loop ground system would also add considerable cost to the installation and significantly alter the natural landscape on the property.   There is another alternative to use the existing infrastructure of both the diesel generator to create the electricity and the diesel furnace to heat the home - that would be to create algae oil.    But from what I’ve seen on the algae to oil tools - this is not an easy task and there are not currently off the shelf solutions to make oil from algae.   My initial step is going to be to install the windmill and keep experimenting with the algae biofuel alternatives.    The algae biofuel would also be used as fuel for the diesel truck and tractor.   I could put in a larger 100kw windmill and use the excess power to create hydrogen for a fuel cell car - however there are no technicians in the area with hydrogen or fuel cell experience so maintaining a fuel cell vehicle up there over the long term would be more difficult. The town has told me if I set up my own power company, they do have to purchase back my electricity at their wholesale rate. But they do not do net metering.

Nevada - there are two properties in Northern Nevada on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada range.  The first property is a small home in a tract neighborhood.  The options for this house are limited to solar panels on the roof and possibly a very small windmill.   For this home, we have already replaced all the light bulbs with low wattage florescent, installed a tankless hot water heater and added an energy efficient natural gas fireplace.   The other property is on a south facing hill with ample space for solar panels.   It already employs a passive solar design, and was designed using low wattage light fixtures, and tankless water heaters.  We have designed solar awnings, a portable solar carport, are putting solar panels on the polar king freezer trailer and can ground mount at least 50kw of solar panels on the 2 acre hill behind the house.   The property also gets winds up to 30 MPH from the valley floor for half the day.    This property is also well suited for a geothermal heat pump system but because of the passive solar design and the airflow characteristics, the home has minimal heating and cooling needs as it is.   The excess electricity generated on this property could be used to create hydrogen for a fuel cell vehicle.  The area has numerous people who are technically qualified to help with a fuel cell vehicle.   The plan for this property is to first install the solar awnings as that will reduce the cooling needs of the house.  Then install the portable solar carport and put the solar panels on the polar king freezer.   The next step will be to install a 5 KW windmill and then work on the hydrogen creation system for the fuel cell.   Depending on the needs for the hydrogen fuel cell system, we may install more solar panels or windmills.

I’ve also been evaluating some other novel energy storage concepts for the Nevada property. Research Scientists at Worcester Polytechnic Institute have found a way to use asphalt to capture solar energy to heat a liquid. There are some other fascinating ways of very inexpensively using the sun’s energy on vacumn sealed tubes heating liquid mounted flat or in a trackable concave mirror. With both of these combined, they can circulate liquid through a tank that then uses that liquid in the tank to run a waste heat generator for electricity. After the water goes through the waste heat generator, it gets returned to the hot liquid sink to be heated up again from the asphalt and the concave mirror solar energy collectors. Electratherm, the manufacturer of the waste heat generator, said they were going to be rolling out a 5kw system by the end of 2009. The benefit of this system is it would also keep the driveway hot for snow melting in the winter. The key would be to use a non-toxic antifreeze in the system.

Connecticut - This property sits on a west facing hill.   There is ample space for ground mounted solarpanels facing south.   We priced a 6kw system which would cover the electrical needs of the home.   The installed costs would be 50K.   There is also ample space to install a horizontal piping geothermal heat pump system.    The house is a passive solar design as well so the geothermal heat pump would work well for the cooling needs in the summer but it may be inadequate to for the heating needs in the winter.   More evaluation is required - however there are other people in the area employing geothermal heat pump solutions and there are qualified installers in the area.    We may be selling this property within the next year or two so we have put the energy self-sufficiency projects on hold.   Homes in the area are not selling at even their market value so making improvements on this property doesn’t make sense at this time.

Now this is an incredibly innovative design - the Jelly Fish Windmill. Lets do a back of the envelope payback analysis. Being at this renewable energy conference this week in Las Vegas, I am more convinced than ever that we are going to see major electrical rate increases as the utility companies pass on their cost of upgrades onto the end consumer. So lets just say for ease of calculation that your electric bill in five years is $.20/kwh - that makes this new windmill cost savings of $8 per month. If it costs you $200 to acquire, and it really is as easy as plugging it into the wall so you have no installation costs, than the payback period is about two years. $8 per month doesn’t seem like much, but a payback period of a little over 2 years - WOW. You can place these about 15 feet apart so for a house 40 feet wide, you could put two on there. They are also working on a 1.2 kw design - and two of those could provide the typical house at the typical current usage profiles about half their electrical needs. This could very well be the most affordable solution to becoming energy self-sufficient coming down the pike.