State Support Sealed the Deal for Shirley Wind

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of attending a celebration of Shirley Wind, Wisconsin’s newest commercial wind installation. Located in the Brown County township of Glenmore, a mere 15 miles southeast of Lambeau Field, the project consists of eight Nordex N100 turbines rated at 2.5 megawatts (MW) apiece. All eight turbines are fully erected and will be turned on individually as part of the commissioning process. Commercial operation should begin in a few weeks.

There are many features of this project that stand out. The most obvious one is the turbines themselves, which are the tallest in Wisconsin and are among the tallest in North America. The nacelle is perched on a 100-meter tower (330 feet). Attached to the rotor are three blades extending 50 meters (165 feet). For comparison purposes, the tower is more than 60 feet taller than the next largest turbine in Wisconsin, the Vestas V82, and the blades are about 30 feet longer. According to Michels Wind, the general contractor for Shirley Wind, the spread foundations supporting these turbines are the largest in North America.

Between their height and blade length, Shirley Wind’s eight turbines will be the most productive wind generators in the state. The power conversion zone of a Nordex N100 is one-third larger than those of the Vestas and GE turbines located in Fond du Lac and Dodge counties. The turbine’s productivity is enhanced by the favorable wind resource that flows over the relatively flat terrain in southeast Brown County. All told, Shirley Wind’s turbines should produce about 64 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, which will exceed the annual output from the 20 turbines at the 30 MW Montfort installation in Iowa County, now in its 10th year of operation.

Another praiseworthy feature of Shirley Wind is the degree of local participation in the manufacturing and construction of the project. The towers were fabricated in Manitowoc by Tower Tech Systems. Manitowoc Crane supplied the giant crane that assembled the turbines. Brownsville-based Michels Wind Energy, which was also the general contractor for the 86-turbine Forward Energy Center surrounding its headquarters, organized and oversaw all facets of project construction. Numerous Wisconsin-based subcontractors, consulting engineers and natural resource professionals also made significant contributions to Shirley Wind. And Emerging Energies, the enterprising developer that started prospecting in this area in 2004 and drove the project forward across the finish line six years, is a Wisconsin corporation whose principals have deep roots in the Badger State.

It is no accident that the Shirley Wind project sets a new standard for Wisconsin content and participation. From its inception, Emerging Energies sought to maximize the benefits of windpower development to two important constituencies: Wisconsin businesses and the local community. As it turned out, its decision to partner with Tower Tech was a money-saving proposition, due to the very short distances needed to haul 80-ton tower sections from Manitowoc to the project site 25 miles away.

To build support among local officials, Emerging Energies agreed to set aside a portion of their receipts for compensating local governments and project neighbors, even though such payments are not required on power plants under 50 MW. The developer devised an innovative arrangement that allocates one-third of this revenue pool to the Town of Glenmore, one-third to Brown County, and one-third to project neighbors living within a certain distance of a wind turbine. This commitment to equitable distribution of revenues was no doubt instrumental in helping Emerging Energies secure a conditional use permit from the township in March 2007. This would have been no mean feat for a seasoned wind developer, let alone a relative newcomer to the industry.

With permit in hand, Emerging Energies set out to find an entity with an appetite for renewable energy. Initially, the developer approached Wisconsin utilities, which are required under 2005 Act 141 to increase the renewable energy content of the electricity they sell. However, by the time Emerging Energies started knocking on their doors, the utilities were already moving forward with their own acquisition plans, which emphasized owning and operating renewable generation sources over purchasing renewable electricity from third parties.

However, the same state law created another entity that needed to acquire renewable energy, namely, the State of Wisconsin. Under Act 141, which was signed into law in March of 2006, the State is obligated to source, by 2011, 20% of the electricity it consumes, or 184 million kilowatt-hours per year, from renewable resources. For state government officials, the purchasing requirement presented an opportunity to back an in-state wind project that could showcase Wisconsin’s prowess in manufacturing and construction as well as bolster the local economy. As a modest-sized project that had assembled a highly capable project development team, Shirley Wind shaped up to be an ideal fit for the State’s aspirations.

Because only utilities can legally sell electricity at retail, the State of Wisconsin and Emerging Energies needed to engage Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPS), the local utility, in a purchasing agreement that could allow the project to move forward. This was accomplished under a novel arrangement that allows WPS to purchase both electricity and renewable energy credits from Shirley Wind under a 20-year contract and resell the credits to the State of Wisconsin. The project is interconnected to a nearby WPS distribution-level substation, which enables Shirley Wind’s output to be directed into the host community and environs.

With this three-way arrangement in place, Emerging Energies then sold a 90% stake in Shirley Wind in late 2009 to an outside investor, Central Hudson Enterprise Corporation, a Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based company. The other 10% of the project remains with Emerging Energies. Having consummated that investment, Shirley Wind cleared the last remaining preconstruction hurdle. Project construction commenced in April.

When fully operational, Shirley Wind will produce enough electricity to equal the annual consumption of approximately 8,000 households without discharging so much as an ounce of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. At the same time, the project as well as generate thousands of dollars each year in supplemental income to host landowners and their neighbors. At every step of this six-year endeavor, Emerging Energies pursued its vision of locally beneficial renewable energy development in a patient and transparent manner, which eventually bore fruit when the State of Wisconsin decided to apply the power of the public purse to seal the deal for Shirley Wind. Shirley Wind represents an auspicious debut for Emerging Energies. Hopefully, there will be more projects coming through that particular pipeline.

WIRTTEN BY: Michael Vickerman, Executive Director of RENEW Wisconsin

Menasha Corp. To Install Wind Turbines

Menasha Corp. is turning green. The company is installing five electricity generating wind turbines at its headquarters off Bergstrom Road.

Menasha Corp. is expecting all of the five turbines to be installed be for the year’s end. Each turbine will generate 20 kilowatts of electricity which will help power all of the office equipment, including computers and lighting.

Along with the company’s renewable energy project Menasha Corp. is implementing a number of energy-saving electrical improvements.

“Earlier this year, we identified sustainability as one of the critical areas in which Menasha must step forward and take a market leadership position,” said Jim Kotek, Menasha Corp.’s president and chief executive officer. “Our renewable energy project is part of the corporation’s support of alternative energy solutions and our focus of becoming a leader in sustainability.”

The turbines will be purchased from Renewegy, which is located in Oshkosh. The turbines will be installed in the greenway between Menasha Packaging’s manufacturing plant and its north office building on Bergstrom Road.

Wisconsin’s Largest Wind Turbines to Begin Operating in Green Bay Area

Located along the Niagara Escarpment are some of the tallest wind turbines in the nation. Each turbine rises nearly 500 feet from the ground which is only 100 feet shorter than Wisconsin’s tallest skyscraper, the U.S. Bank building.

The turbines are located in Glenmore, as part of the Shirley Wind project and are expected to start producing power later this month.

Several Wisconsin companies contributed to the effort including Michels Wind Energy of Brownsville and Tower Tech of Manitowoc. Tower Tech states that the towers produced for the Shirley Wind project are the largest they have ever produced.

“I can’t tell you how exciting it has been to watch this go up, and to feel and touch the turbines, and know that it’s Wisconsin through and through,” said Bill Rakocy project developer of Emerging Energies.

The new turbines will supply power to Wisconsin Public Service Corp. which in turn will sell energy credits to the stat to help it reach its goal of getting 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources.

Each of the new turbines will generate about 2.5 megawatts of electricity which is four times as much as the first two turbines built in Glenmore 12 years ago.

Emerging Energies predicts that the Shirley Wind project will generate enough power over the next year to meet the needs of 8,000 customers.

Floating Wind Turbines Make Wind Energy Cheaper

As we all know when people decided to take on a building project that takes place on or around the water costs tend to rise. The same can be said for wind turbines, in a new study by the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) (United Kingdom) those costs can be justified by long term economic efficiency.

ETI chief executive Dr. David Clarke states, "The traditional view is that the cost of offshore wind becomes increasingly expensive as turbines are located in deeper water, due to additional expenses of supporting traditional turbine structures."

The cost of turbine foundations increase as you get into deeper water, but the wind speeds in deeper water environments are significantly stronger and more consistent, which in turn results in a more reliable and higher energy output.

The conclusions of this this study are simple, floating wind turbines are both technically and economically feasible.

Two more feasibility studies on floating wind turbines are currently under way. The first being the Nova Project, which is analyzing the potential use of vertical axis turbines offshore. The second study, the Helm Wind Project is looking into the viability of making changes to the basic design of offshore wind farms.

With data to support the building of offshore deep water wind turbines industry professionals are optimistic about the future of renewable energy.

$2.1M in funding for Wind Center

The Ohio Third Frontier Commission and Advisory Board has approved a $2.1 million in funding for the creation of a Wind Energy Research Development Center. The center will be located at Stark State College of Technology.

The college, Timken Co., Stark Development Board Inc. and the Stark County Port Authority will be collaborating on the project. The awards are contingent upon funding from the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority.

The new research center will be a test facility for wind turbines. The facility will be able to test and assemble full-scale systems under real world applications and environmental conditions.

With help from the Ohio Third Frontier, Stark State College and Timken will invest upwards of $8 million for the project. The creation of the facility is expected to birth 57 part-time and eight full time jobs.

Wind Power Firm to Expand Production in Wisconsin

http://www.avanti-online.com/

Danish firm Avanti Wind, has been doing business in the United States for many years, making service lifts used by technicians for inspecting and repairing wind turbines.

Avanti Wind has recently moved its production of aluminum ladders from Germany and China to Wisconsin. Even though the pace of wind development has slowed across the country Kent Pedersen, Avanti’s U.S. general manager stated we have done quite well in expanding our customer base in North America, and we’ve continued to grow in 2010 compared to 2009 and we expect that to continue next year.”

The local expansion of Avanti is a small example of creating jobs in which local economic development official’s hope will be a growth sector for Wisconsin. 

Manufacturing is one of Wisconsin’s biggest industries and professionals in the wind industry are looking towards the state to help facilitate the industries growth. “It’s a market we look at and we see growth, we see jobs and we see capital investment,” said Jim Paetsch, business development specialist with the Milwaukee 7 regional economic development group, during the Wisconsin Solar Decade conference.

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World’s Largest Wind Farm Opens in the UK

On Thursday the world’s largest off shore wind farm opened off the British coast consisting of 100 wind turbines capable of supplying enough electricity for 200,000 homes a year.

The farm is located off the coast of Kent in Southern England and is part of a key renewable energy initiative spearheaded by the previous British government.

Vattenfall a Swedish based company will operate the farm after investing around $1.38 billion into the project.

Waters off the coast of the United Kingdom are an alluring place for wind farm operators because of their constant ocean winds. An offshore turbine located around the United Kingdom has the capability to produce 50-percent more power than a similar one elsewhere in Europe.

Europe is seeing a boom in offshore wind energy with the construction of 16 farms currently underway. The Thanet farm covers approximately 13.5 square miles which is roughly the equivalent to 4,000 football fields. The nearest turbine is located 7.4 miles from the coast of Margate.

Along with a renewable, efficient power supply Vattenfall stated that a rise in tourism is expected to bring more tourists into the region eager to see the site of the windmills in the distance.

Impressive as the Thanet Farm is it will not remain the largest windfarm for long, in late 2012 or 2013 the so-called London Array will start to generate electricity just north of London. Owners of the Array farm predict it to be the world’s first 1 gigawatt offshore windfarm.