Harnessing the Wind
Mike LaKritz just finished building a home in the South 40, a subdivision north of Silverthorne. Now he’s building his power plant. He wants to power his home with renewable energy delivered from relative small generators on his own property. The first system he’s installing involves solar panels, and the next is a small, quiet wind generator.
Here’s the glitch. Wind generators are not permitted in residential neighborhoods. And LaKritz knows this because he sits on the Summit (countywide) Planning Commission, and is hoping to find a way to change the county’s mind. If his lot was zoned for agricultural, small wind generators – those rated under 25 kilowatts – could be erected without a permit. Larger generators would also be allowed with a conditional-use permit obtained from the county. These same rules apply to land zoned for mining and other natural resource use.
Small generators are permitted in the backcountry with a permit, and so are large wind operations in industrial zones – otherwise, it’s No Go.
According to the county, a scale wind generator is less than 35 feet in diameter. But the ones LaKritz found through Internet shopping are much smaller from three to 21 feet across.
Bergey Wind Power’s Ecel machine, built in Norman, Okla., produces about ten kilowatts and costs about $50,000 installed. A new machine, called the Sky Stream, from South West Wind Power of Flagstaff, Arizona, will produce 1.8 kilowatts and is about three feet in diameter. This is a new product and is expected to cost between $8,500 and $10,000.
rator, cost more than all LaKritz’ kitchen appliances combined, but his solar panels are expected to cost even more per watt. According to the American Wind Energy Association, solar panels cost seven to nine cents per watt, where wind is four to six cents, when maintenance and initial investments are considered.
To offset the sticker shock from renewable energy products, Xcel Energy, the utility provider in Summit County, is currently offering up to $4.50 cash back per rated watt. If LaKritz solar panels, or his wind generator, were rated for 10,000 watts, that calculates to a $45,000 credit. A ten kilowatt generator will power one all-electric home by producing about 15,000 watts per year under average wind conditions.
Wind is classed from one (barely blowing) to seven (screaming). Average winds at different locations on a property can be measured and the generator installed in the best possible locations.
According to Trudy Forsyth, at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado, small wind generators are designed to stay reliable so a machine can take variable wind speed and direction. The turbine pivots on its pole to match the wind direction. The higher the wind speed the more power that is generated. The wind is generally stronger in the winter, she explains, and matches the peak electricity demand for the county.
However, altitude has a diminishing effect on the amount of electricity generated. Forsyth estimated a generator operating at 12,000 feet above sea level would produce ten to 15 percent less electricity than one operating on the Eastern Plains. As altitude increases the air density decreases and so produces less power.
Altitude is not something a Summit County resident can control, but one can situate the wind generator where the wind blows well. The best wind is clean wind, Forsyth says, found above the trees and other wind breaks that cause the air to be turbulent. The wind generators work fine in erratic wind, Forsyth adds, but this accelerates the wear and tear on the machine. Wind is also usually faster farther from the ground.
If the generator can be placed in close proximity to a home’s electricity panel, it will be cheaper to connect the renewable power to the existing grid. Wind generators can supply power to batteries for homes off the grid, but the easiest way to use wind power is to tie a home generator into the existing energy. “To actually run your meter backwards,” says Forsyth, explaining how “net metering” works.
When a home wind generator is producing electricity and adding energy to the grid, kilowatts are credited to the homeowner. When the generator is not producing what a home needs, the electric company charges for the kilowatts. The homeowner pays the difference or gets a credit. If a home produces more electricity than it uses, Xcel allows this credit to be carried over a one-year period. If at the end of the year, the home is still in the black – hasn’t used any extra electricity, and hasn’t paid an electric bill – the credit is given to LEAP (Low-income Energy Assistance Program).
For more information about wind energy, visit NREL’s website: www.nrel.gov/wind.
Terry Talty has been the Arts & Entertainment editor for the Summit Daily News, reported for the Crested Butte Pilot and Telluride Daily Planet, and currently writes about art at unsafeArt.com.
