This was going to be a post about the economics of wind (which I will get to and add a link once I post), but I decided to first tell the story of how Jiminy Peak got their wind turbine. First, it’s important to understand that there aren’t a lot of other single wind turbines around, most of them are part of large wind farms. Jiminy Peak actually has “the only privately owned megawatt class turbine in the nation for on-site energy usage,” according to the EOS Ventures website. Basically, after going through the process of surveying and procuring the turbine the team at Jiminy learned a ton and decided to start a company to help others get their renewable energy projects off the ground.
Here are the steps they went through (which come from full case study outlining the process at the EOS site).
- Wetlands study for the access road and site.
- Wetlands assessment for surrounding area.
- Avian Assessment, (bird study).
- A determination by Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency (MEPA) for an Environmental Notification Form (ENF).
- Study of rare and endangered species was completed.
- A letter of opinion was obtained from the National Heritage Society.
- Civil engineering analysis of site and access roads.
- Visual Impact Assessment of the project (photo simulations).
Then, once they finished all that and realized it was a viable option they went to talk to GE. Because GE doesn’t sell a 1 megawatt turbine (the smallest is a 1.5 mw) Jiminy had to go back to the drawing board and do a few more studies to make sure the larger turbine wouldn’t be an issue. This second round looked like this:
- A re-evaluation of the wind study and determination of how many kilowatt hours could be generated by a GE turbine indicated it will produce 4.6 MILLION KILOWATT HOURS of electricity. (Jiminy uses 7 million kilowatt hours).
- Turbulence data was necessary in order to assure there would be no excessive vibrations to the turbine over the useful life of the next 50 years. Historical weather information proved there are no turbulence concerns.
- The ability for the turbines connection into Jiminy’s electrical distribution and National Grid’s distribution system was satisfactory answered.
- Civil Engineering and contractor capabilities for hauling this heavier piece of equipment up the mountain and installing it was resolved.
Finally after everything was cleared they installed it (a whole other ordeal, since it’s not every day you need to get a structure of that size to the top of a ski mountain). The total cost $3.9 million and it’s predicted to take 8 years to pay back (all according to EOS of course).
Clearly not a very easy process, which is exactly why the team at Jiminy started EOS. Very interesting.
[...] Hrm, this is super interesting. Apparently there is a company called 3TIER that has a bunch of products to help people who are considering renewable energy products figure out the feasability. (The feasability studies at the beginning of any renewable project is apparently one of the more time and money consuming parts of the project. Part of the reason why EOS exists.) [...]
The Jiminy Peak story is great.
One of the reasons turbines are usually part of a big field (besides cost) is the maintenance. There’s a certain amount of flexing that happens on the turbine blades as they spin around. It’s both centrifugal and weight related but because the blades are made of fiberglass, they stretch on the downstroke (a lot more than you think they would). The stretching puts strain on the blades and they can crack over time. Does Jiminy have a service agreement with GE to keep the turbine running?
Thanks Jacob.
That’s super interesting, didn’t know about the stretching. They definitely have a service agreement, but don’t know the details. Just know the Jiminy folks mentioned GE people coming a few times a year (can’t remember the exact number). Not sure if you watched it, but here’s Ryan from Jiminy explaining how it works (he mentions monitoring): http://geadventure.com/2009/04/how-wind-tubines-work/