Site visit to Portsmouth wind turbines

Last week photo simulations of wind turbines and a link to a You- Tube animation were posted on the town website. Many people find these tools useful in evaluating what a proposed wind turbine will look like. As useful as they are, there is no substitute for visiting a wind turbine in person. Fortunately, we don’t have too far to go.

There are two turbines in Portsmouth that are similar to the ones in the photo simulations. Portsmouth Abbey put up a 660-kilowatt wind turbine in 2006. In 2009, the town of Portsmouth installed a 1,500-kilowatt wind turbine at the high school. Officials at Portsmouth Abby as well as a town official in Portsmouth have graciously offered to host visitors from Jamestown who would like to learn more about their wind turbines.

If you would like a guided tour of these wind turbines, email me at harley@endlessenergy.com and I’ll start a list and suggest some dates.

Energy and environmental benefits from a wind turbine

While there can be clear financial benefits from a wind turbine project, many people also have an interest in environmental and energy benefits of a wind turbine. Here are some interesting figures for a 2-megawatt wind turbine in Jamestown:

• Distributed generation benefits: In general, the closer generation is to consumers, the fewer losses there are in transmission systems. The power produced by a Jamestown wind turbine would usually be consumed on the island. In rare circumstances when the turbine is producing a lot of power and local consumption is low, power would flow off the island back to Newport.

• Pollution prevented: Once installed, a Jamestown wind turbine would prevent the emission of 3.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide, 43 pounds of sulfur dioxide, and 645 pounds of nitrous oxides per year. It would do this by causing existing – primarily gas fired – power plants to reduce their output. That comes out to about 10,000 pounds less pollution per day.

• Homes served: This turbine would produce enough power for 600 average homes.

• Oil: You’d have to burn about 296,000 gallons of oil a year (812 gallons a day) to produce the same amount of power.

• Cars off the road: The pollution prevented by a wind turbine is equivalent to taking 319 cars off the road permanently.

The author is president of Endless Energy Corporation, a consultant chosen by the Town Council in December to conduct studies necessary to determine the costs and potential profitability of a Jamestown wind turbine.