Comments on: What Wind Turbine 2.0 Will Look Like http://theferrisfiles.com/2010/05/what-wind-turbine-2-0-will-look-like/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-wind-turbine-2-0-will-look-like Journalism by David Ferris Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:35:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: davidferris http://theferrisfiles.com/2010/05/what-wind-turbine-2-0-will-look-like/comment-page-1/#comment-446 davidferris Wed, 26 May 2010 17:10:30 +0000 http://theferrisfiles.com/?p=2037#comment-446 Maggie - Great question, and I hope I can connect you with someone who can help. Have you spoken to the Midwestern Renewable Energy Association (http://www.the-mrea.org/) ? I've heard they are active and know a great deal, and they're active in Wisconsin. I'll see what else I can find out. In the meantime, anyone have other resources or ideas to help Maggie? Maggie – Great question, and I hope I can connect you with someone who can help. Have you spoken to the Midwestern Renewable Energy Association (http://www.the-mrea.org/) ? I’ve heard they are active and know a great deal, and they’re active in Wisconsin.

I’ll see what else I can find out. In the meantime, anyone have other resources or ideas to help Maggie?

]]> By: Maggie http://theferrisfiles.com/2010/05/what-wind-turbine-2-0-will-look-like/comment-page-1/#comment-445 Maggie Wed, 26 May 2010 16:12:50 +0000 http://theferrisfiles.com/?p=2037#comment-445 David, I live in a small town in northern Wisconsin and serve on the City Council. We’ve just gotten notice that WPS will be raising our electricity rates, which will drive our budget deep into the red for next year. What I want, and have wanted since I was elected two years ago, is to get this town off the grid. We had a wind study done 18 months ago and we do have enough wind to drive the farmers and rest of us crazy, but apparently not enough wind to justify the cost of installing our own turbines with a reasonable payback time?? Our City Administrator believes, and I agree with him, that any plan that has a greater payback time than about 10 years will be a very hard sell, given the steep up front investment. I think we could sell 15 years. But anything longer than that is “uncertain”, “speculative”, etc. However, I suspect that the belief that we don’t have enough wind for a reasonable payback time is based on older windmill technology. I’m wondering if you can help us sort this out, whether there are options that can make efficient use of the wind patterns we have. I ALSO suspect there are some significant limitations to the “study” that was done, but not being an expert in wind it would be hard for me to detect those limitations. If we don’t do something now, WPS (who has the power monopoly on northern Wisconsin) will continue to string us along from year to year, always raising the rates “just enough” so that it is still not “worthwhile” for our town to invest in some other type of energy production. We need seriously better information and realistic ideas. I can be contacted at turnbull.maggie@gmail.com and would love to hear from you! PS: I moved to Antigo from Washington, D.C. I am an astrobiologist and worked at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Though I love DC, I came here to get my career and everything else "off-grid", and it's been worth it. David, I live in a small town in northern Wisconsin and serve on the City Council. We’ve just gotten notice that WPS will be raising our electricity rates, which will drive our budget deep into the red for next year. What I want, and have wanted since I was elected two years ago, is to get this town off the grid. We had a wind study done 18 months ago and we do have enough wind to drive the farmers and rest of us crazy, but apparently not enough wind to justify the cost of installing our own turbines with a reasonable payback time?? Our City Administrator believes, and I agree with him, that any plan that has a greater payback time than about 10 years will be a very hard sell, given the steep up front investment. I think we could sell 15 years. But anything longer than that is “uncertain”, “speculative”, etc.

However, I suspect that the belief that we don’t have enough wind for a reasonable payback time is based on older windmill technology. I’m wondering if you can help us sort this out, whether there are options that can make efficient use of the wind patterns we have. I ALSO suspect there are some significant limitations to the “study” that was done, but not being an expert in wind it would be hard for me to detect those limitations. If we don’t do something now, WPS (who has the power monopoly on northern Wisconsin) will continue to string us along from year to year, always raising the rates “just enough” so that it is still not “worthwhile” for our town to invest in some other type of energy production.

We need seriously better information and realistic ideas. I can be contacted at turnbull.maggie@gmail.com and would love to hear from you!

PS: I moved to Antigo from Washington, D.C. I am an astrobiologist and worked at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Though I love DC, I came here to get my career and everything else “off-grid”, and it’s been worth it.

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