Evaluating Community Wind Farms in Rural Alaska
Thursday, August 27th, 2009Michelle LaBrosse, PMP
Wind Power in Rural Alaska
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 2008 Alaska Legislature slated $300 million over five years in renewable energy grants to utilities, independent power producers or local governments.
- The state already generates 24 percent of its electricity from renewable sources — almost exclusively hydroelectric — and Ms. Palin last month announced a goal of 50 percent by 2025.
- Martina Dabo overseas wind power programs for the Alaska Energy Authority and in a 2008 report, for 100 alaska villages where this would be economically feasible.
- Northern Power Systems, a small turbine manufacturer in Barre, Vt., designed its 100-kilowatt turbine for operation at the South Pole, now supplies wind mills for 8 remote, arctic communities and has projects in 45 other villages.
- A wind farm is under development for an island near Anchorage.
- The payback estimate the turbines in Toksook Bay is about 17 years, and will last 20 to 25 years.
- The variability of the wind is being handled by electronically controlled diesel generators that can rapidly adjust their output, electric heaters that can absorb excess power and other.
- The hybrid diesel/wind power systems generate 25 percent or more of their power from wind on an annual basis.
- Fishermen in these remote locations find their way home by the wind mills
All very fascinating The property I am evaluating is not in an arctic region and the temperature seldom gets below 0 for any length of time. But we do get a lot of snow at times and recalling my days as a consultant evaluating the environment’s impacts on aviation equipment, icing from snow fall might present a problem on the rotors. This will need to became part of my requirements document if the wind feasibility study proves this to be a worthwhile venture.
The power lines already go to this property, but we’d need a bit bigger transmission pipe. That level of pipe stops just five miles short of this property so the transmission problem will be fairly inexpensive to resolve (in comparison to some of these more remote operations).
The other benefit to my location, the main people who will see the wind turbines will be the cruise ships. Very few of the neighbors even look over at that hill and those that do - they already have their own windmills installed for generating electricity on their property. The neighborhood has been using wind power for electricity for over 20 years.