Assessing Residential Wind Power On MDI

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Assessing Residential Wind Power On MDI
How it Works Grid-tie vs. Off Grid Cost and
Taxes Sizing and Siting Permitting
Environmental Concerns Birds Noise Ice
Throw Benefits

• By COA Wind Power Class.

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Wind Energy has been Popular for a long time
The pilgrims arrived under the power of wind.
Cape Cod was home to the first windmill in
America. Wind helped fuel our countrys early
economy.
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Early Electric Wind Turbines helped Electrify
Remote Farms in the early 1900s
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Drivers for Wind Power

• Rising Fuel Price and Uncertainty
• Declining Wind Costs
• Federal and State Policies Incentives
• Local Economic Development
• Environmental Stewardship
• Energy Security
• Consumer Demand

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Types of Wind Turbines Today

• Medium
• Village Power
• Hybrid Systems
• Distributed Power
• 80,000-500,000
• 20-150 ft. diameter
• 10-250 kW

• Small
• Homes Farms
• Remote Applications
• 5,000-50,000
• 2-20 ft. diameter
• ?10 kW

• Large (250 kW 5 MW)
• Central Station Wind Farms
• Distributed Power
• 750,000 - 3,000,000 (per turbine)
• 150 300 ft. diameter

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What are my options?

• Grid-tie

• Off grid

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Where do they appear?

• Rock concerts
• And wind turbines
• Alternator makes variable alternating current
• Rectifier converts it to direct current to store
  in batteries
• Inverter converts back to usable 120V AC

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Grid-tied systems

• Grid-tie inverter
• Net metering and credits
• Shut off switch

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Grid-tied systems

• Pros
• Little necessary upkeep
• Credits and tax incentives
• Simple setup with existing wiring
• Grid power is available when the turbine is not
  running

Cons Still lose power in grid outages No energy
independence Still pay grid hookup fees
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Off grid systems

• Batteries
• Off-grid inverter
• Home efficiency

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Batteries

• Flooded
• Gel
• AGM

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Off grid systems

• Pros
• Energy independence
• No unexpected outages
• No power bill

Cons Have to produce all your power Can run out
of electricity Fewer tax incentives More upkeep
necessary Variable battery efficiencies
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Will my project be economically feasible?1. Tax
incentives Rebates2. Cost Analysis
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Federal Tax Incentives

• Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
• 30 percent federal tax credit for the purchase
  and installation costs of wind turbines until
  2016.
• Revised in 2009
• System must be lt100kw
• U.S. small wind industry projects the credit will
  provide thousands of jobs
• projected 40 annual growth for the industry.
• Previous lack of federal support kept small wind
  technology from growing as quickly as other
  renewable energy technologies.

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Maine Rebate Programsas of 01.01.09

• Efficiency Maine,
• a Maine Public Utilities Commission program.
• Maximum of 2,000 for qualified residential wind
  systems
• 500 per 500 watts up to 2,000 watts
• Maximum of 4,000 for nonresidential systems
• 500 per 500 watts up to 4,000 watts
• All turbines must meet program requirements.
• Must be grid-tied
• Must be tied by a master licensed electrician
• Funded by an assessment on the states
  transmission and distribution utilities.
• Rebate based on availability of funds

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How much does a system cost?
Beech Hill Farms Skystream 3.7 Grid-tie
Skystream 3.7 (includes inverter)
7,000 Installation
8,000 Total 15,000 -30 federal rebate
( with no limit) 4,500 -State rebate
2,000 Total
8,500 Off-grid Whisper 200 Wind Turbine
3,015.00 Batteries
3,000.00 inverter

1,900.00 Total 7,915.00
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Sample Payback Calculation

• Skystream provides an average of 300kWh/month
• Whisper provides an average of 200kWh/month
• Average home uses 400 kWh/month
• 16 cents/kWh
• 300kWh x .16 48.00/month
• 200kWh x .16 32.00/month
• Grid-tie
• 8,500 / 48.00 177.08 months 14.75 years
• Off-grid
• 7,915 /32.00247.34months 20.61 years

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Sample Payback Calculation
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Sizing and Siting

• Important considerations
• Cost to reach utility
• Energy needs
• Wind resource
• Local ordinances
• Nearby obstructions to wind

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How to choose a site

• Evaluate wind resource and obstructions
• Anemometer testing?
• General rule turbine must be at least 20 feet
  higher than anything within 75 feet
• Within 250 feet of power panel.
• Check local ordinances! Many towns have
  restrictions on towers and/or wind systems

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Wind Power Permitting on MDI
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Current Situation in Bar Harbor

• New regulations have been proposed
• Main considerations
• Tower height
• Aesthetic/ historic impacts
• Proximity to residential areas- setback distance
• Bird/ Wildlife impacts

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Current Draft of Ordinance for Bar Harbor

• Intended to allow turbines for residential and
  commercial uses
• Current standard-- homeowners can have a max.
  tower height of 60 ft.
• -- 80 ft. for non-residential uses
• One SWES for plots of less than 5 acres

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Pros and Cons of Current Ordinances
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Permitting in coastal areas

• Requires
• federal permit
• Aesthetic and wildlife
• Concerns, esp. seabirds
• Min. Setback distance- 75 ft

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Concerns About Wind Turbines
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Wind Turbine/Bird-Collisions
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The origin of concern about birds and turbines
Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA) CA

• What went wrong?
• location
• fast and short
• lattice towering
• Learned a lot
• Today, far fewer deaths

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33,000 is still a lothowever

• 52 coal burning
• By-products
• One 4-smoke stack event
• Mountain top mining will destroy 380,000 acres
• Exxon Valdez spill
• Prevention could save 8.4 tons of coal
• 1 MW vs. 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide, 10 tons of
  sulfur, 6 tons nitrogen oxide

VS.
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Put into perspective
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Small scale vs. large scale

• Federal actions NEPA, ESA, National Wildlife
  Refuge System Administration Act, National
  Historic Preservation Act, Migratory Bird Treaty
  Act
• Voluntary unless permanent damage exceeds 3 acres
• DO SOME RESEARCH!

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Beech Hill Farm Turbine Site

• C. Smoot Major 2 years data 86-87
• Hawk Migration/thermals
• Tower height

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Noise

• Noise can be defined as any unwanted sound
• Which sounds constitute noise is somewhat
  subjective
• Certain types and levels of sounds are considered
  problematic noise and should be reduced or
  eliminated

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Turbine Noise

• Can be mechanical or Aerodynamic
• Aerodynamic sounds contribute most
• Residential turbines vs. industrial
• wind farms

http//www.fm.mek.dtu.dk/upload/institutter/mek/fm
/forskning/windturbine_noise.png
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Decibels

• Measure of sound pressure
• Logarithmic scale
• Weighting
• dB (A)
• dB (C)

http//www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/facts
/03-047f12.gif
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Why is noise a concern?

• Older turbines were noisier
• Irresponsible siting can cause problems
• Some noise experts recommend that noise limits at
  property lines not exceed 35 dB(A) or 50 dB(C)

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How can these concerns be addressed?

• Research
• what is the noise level at a certain distance
• sound studies done on residential turbines, some
  of which can be found online
• These concerns are legitimate but.
• when dealt with through improved design and
  appropriatesiting, noise issues do not need to
  prevent wind resources from being used.

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Residential Wind Power

• Noise is based on many factors
• Higher towers may help reduce noise issues
• High Winds
• Turbine Design
• A typical small turbine (10kw) at 120 feet may
  produce about 57 dB (at 100 feet, light traffic
  is 50 dB and a freeway is 70dB)

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Ice throw
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Ice Throw

• Fragments of ice can be thrown off b/c of
  aerodynamic and centrifugal forces
• Ice throw incident requires icing, proper wind
  speed and direction, detachment of ice
• turbine will likely shutdown
• No severe injuries or deaths

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BOTTOM LINE

• Not a lot of reliable information
• unnecessary concern, low risk for residential
• Compare to Falling icicles

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• Closing Comments
• Wind Power means Harnessing a clean,
  renewable, local, and free source of energy
• Wind Power is Gaining momentum
• Some added benefits are.

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• Possibility for energy self-sufficiency
• Encourages energy efficiency
• Makes people more conscious of energy use and
  its source
• Insulates from increases in energy prices
• Creates Jobs for the Green Economy
• Imagine an Energy Independent MDI!

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Thanks for attending! For this information and
more, visit our website at www.coaenergy.com (Go
ing Live Soon)
Ana Griem Haley Harwood Jonah Marsh Matt
McInnis Neil Oculi Ilse Purrenhage Haley
Schwarz Dominique Walk Jake Weisberg Thanks to
Anna Demeo and Alex Brett