Blowin’ in the wind

What is the future for wind energy?

Find the wind turbines in this building (read below)

By Will Collette

Wind energy doesn’t seem to have a future in Charlestown, given the town’s de facto ban on all wind energy, the feds’ nixing of municipal turbines in Ninigret Park, and the near-fatal blow to the Whalerock industrial wind project dealt by RI District Court Judge Judith Savage.

Charlestown’s wind energy ban notwithstanding, wind power is one of the key alternatives to fossil fuels and nuclear power. Plus, wind technology is starting to change. The standard three-blade turbines are being eclipsed by new designs. These technologies reduce or eliminate many of the problems associated with the conventional three-blade designs.

Energy Dept's wind map for our area (click to enlarge)

One of wind power’s big problems is that it needs steady, reliable wind – and not too much or too little of it. One reason why I never really thought that Larry LeBlanc’s Whalerock proposal would happen is that Energy Department maps show there isn’t enough wind on the Charlestown moraine to make his huge turbine project viable.

I am told by sources that new data from the wind measuring tower (Met Tower) in Ninigret Park and from other Met towers along the coast confirm the Energy Department’s data.

However, there’s plenty of good, steady wind off shore. That’s good news for projects like 130-turbine Cape Wind, which just received final approval for an offshore wind farm that will be located in the waters off Martha’s Vineyard.

The Deepwater Wind project slated for the waters around Block Island is also moving along. They plan to start with a five-turbine 30-megawatt pilot project which will lower electricity bills on Block Island and then move on to a much larger installation.

In July, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held a public meeting in Narragansett to discuss plans to sell leases to companies interested in exploiting wind resources in federal waters off the Rhode Island and Massachusetts coasts. The feds are on the verge of announcing when they will start auctioning off those leases.

The feds have already decided to exclude certain sensitive fishing and spawning areas but otherwise agree with the industry view that wind energy, especially off shore, is New England’s single best renewable energy resource.

How Republicans (and Ill Winders) view wind energy

The future of land-based wind installations is not very bright. There’s often local opposition as well as national Republican opposition to alternative energy in general – “drill, baby, drill” being the prevailing GOP sentiment[1]. We may not see many more large, conventional turbines on land, except in prime areas where the wind is better and opposition is not as virulent.

However, there is a good chance that congressional Republicans will kill alternative energy tax subsidies. Candidate Mitt Romney has already declared that, if elected, he will allow those tax incentives to expire, even though they are popular enough to cost him votes in key battleground states like Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona.

Now, before we get blitzed with all sorts of comments saying that alternative energy shouldn’t have to rely on government subsidies, just stop. Every single one of America’senergy sources – especially oil and gas, and the nuclear industry – are heavily subsidized and have been for decades. Giving alternative energy the chance to get off the ground through tax subsidies is only fair, given how much we prop up the rest of the energy industry.

Land-based wind power in Rhode Island was not helped at all by the conspicuous failure of Portsmouth’s huge wind turbine next to Route 24. That l.5-megawatt turbine’s gearbox failed and the manufacturer has gone out of business. Not only is there no enforceable maintenance agreement, but getting replacement parts is very problematic.

The most recent estimates for getting that turbine back on line now range from $672,000 to $703,000. In light of Portsmouth’s troubles, not to mention local resistance, Jamestown just pulled the plug on a proposed municipal wind turbine.

Chevron refinery burning in Richmond CA

I marvel at the double standards we apply to wind turbines. We assume they will be self-sufficient right out of the box. And we assume they will never break.

Just in the past month, we’ve had a major oil refinery fire in Richmond, CA, that jacked up California’s pump prices. We’ve had a two-week shut-down at Millstone, our local nuclear power plant. Between the Venezuela refinery explosions and Hurricane Isaac in the Gulf, we’re suffering another big oil price hit, a ten-cent per gallon jump in the week before Labor Day.

Venezuelan refinery explodes and burns

Things break. Then those things have to be fixed. When a wind turbine breaks, it stops generating energy. When a nuclear reactor breaks, it’s time to run for our lives. When a refinery explodes or an oil well ruptures, you’ve got death, devastation and economic ruin. When there’s a coal mine accident, miners die.

But I guess we don't really care about all that because it's not here (although the Millstone nuclear power plant with its 3.5 million pounds of high-level radioactive waste is just 20 miles upwind).

I think the future for wind power as a viable energy source for homes, businesses and large-scale use lies in emerging wind technologies that will probably make the conventional three-blade turbines look primitive.

Here's another view of the wind turbines shown on the building in the
photo at the top of the page

I hope you all bookmark my OTHER favorite Charlestown blog – not Oppressive Charlestown (the CCA) but “33 Bridges,” produced by Megan Moynihan and Damara Ortolani Sisti of Oyster Works. It’s a beautiful site that presents things of beauty that catch the attention of Megan and Damara.

I was especially taken by their August 19 posting on the “World’s Largest Rooftop Wind Farm.” This system is incorporated into the building design of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City.

It’s an array of “vertical axis turbines.” I wrote about vertical axis turbines here. In my opinion, these new turbines can revolutionize wind energy generation because they not only tend to be very beautiful but also are efficient and don’t raise the same issues about noise, shadow flicker, etc., that stir up public opposition.

While conventional three-blade turbine technology seems to be stalled in terms of innovation, vertical axis turbines tend to come in a wide variety of designs, sizes, strengths and prices – including many that are extraordinarily cheap and more than suitable for home use.

Unless you live in Charlestown. Before considering a residential wind generator, make sure you click here and read what you will have to do to get a permit, thanks to the CCA, and especially Councilor Dan Slattery and Planning Commissar Ruth Platner.

Another fascinating new wind technology is a “downdraft tower” just recently permitted for construction in the town of San Luis, Arizona. This system actually creates its own wind by pumping water up a 2000-foot-tall cylinder inside the tower where it is sprayed in a fine mist that cools the air at the top, thus making it rush to the bottom, spinning generators along the way.

Down-draft tower

The system is to be integrated into a much-needed water desalinization project, and more than 90% of the water used in the tower will be recovered. The planned tower is rated at 1.1 megawatts, and the price tag is roughly equivalent to that of a coal-fired power plant of equal capacity.

I hope Larry LeBlanc isn’t reading this. Whalerock created a political firestorm in Charlestown, and at its maximum blade height, it was slated to be 410 feet tall. Just imagine what a 2000-foot downdraft tower would do to the death rate from strokes and heart attacks in town.

But never fear, all you Partridges. A downdraft tower needs a large and steady source of water to circulate through the system, and there isn’t one up on the moraine. However, if LeBlanc owns any property off West Beach Road, that might be the best spot.

When Charlestown lost its mind and over-reacted to a bad project like Whalerock by effectively banning all wind energy, we made a bad mistake. We closed the door on a very promising technology that we should instead be encouraging. Not every wind project has to be a monstrosity. Nor are all wind generators, now or on the horizon, going to be conventional three-blade turbines.

Charlestown, like every other community large and small around the world, must move away from fossil fuels and toward alternative energy sources. It may be too late to save those parts of Charlestown south of One that will be lost as climate change causes sea levels to rise, but we must face up to our responsibilities and do our part for the survival of humanity.

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[1] From the brand-new Republican Party platform, Republicans “will let the free market and the public’s preferences determine the industry outcomes. In assessing the various sources of potential energy, Republicans advocate an all-of-the-above diversified approach, taking advantage of all our American God-given resources. That is the best way to advance North American energy independence." “American” God???