WTG

Portsmouth energy fair draws hundreds

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Jack learns about the atmosphere from David Stookey.

At least 200 people attended the alternative energy fair at the Portsmouth wind turbine today, according to organizer David Stookey. There were more than a dozen exhibitors, ranging from solar power to fuel-efficient cars to a refrigerator recycling program from National Grid.

Seriously — if you have an old refrigerator in the garage, they'll pick it up for free and give you a $30 rebate. Get the details on their CoolTurnIn site.

It was a beautiful afternoon, and when Jack and I stopped by around 3pm, there were a bunch of families there with their kids, wandering around the high school tennis court and field.

Portsmouth Economic Development Committee chair Rich Talipsky and Sustainable Energy chair Gary Gump were on hand to talk about the wind turbine.

Thanks to all the organizers: Cool Aquidneck Island, Newport's Channing Memorial Church, the RI Council of MoveOn.org, and the RI Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Resources
Cool Aquidneck Island Web site
National Grid's CoolTurnIn site

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Localblogging, 02871, WTG

Happy 4th and Energy Independence

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Sunday at the turbine!

This will be a busy weekend here in the East Bay. I'm sure everyone is hoping for a break in the weather this weekend, especially those aiming to attend the world-famous Bristol parade. And if you haven't read the Sakonnet Times story on two of the the special guests, it's worth a peek. Hint: They were in Times Square on August 14, 1945.

Looking for activities? Aquidneck Moms Town has put together a list, as well as the always helpful OnAquidneck.com. I find both of these sites essential for keeping up with happenings around here.

Hope everyone will also turn out for Energy Independence Day on July 5, which will be celebrated with a clean energy fair at the Portsmouth wind turbine from 1-4pm.

Sponsored by Cool Aquidneck Island, Newport's Channing Memorial Church, the RI Council of MoveOn.org, and the RI Chapter of the Sierra Club, the event will "feature tables, booths, activities, awards, and educational information about how your family can save money with clean energy." Want ways to reduce carbon emissions? Want to help Congress put some teeth in ACES? Support renewable energy at National Grid? C'mon down.

Free admission, really loose agenda (i.e., none) so bring chairs and a picnic lunch, kick back, and get an up-close look at Portsmouth's newest landmark.

And hey, the flyer sez you can "win a prize if you come without using any carbon — on foot, by bike, teleporting, whatever."

More info on the Cool Aquidneck Island Web site.

Full disclosure: Personally, I believe that teleporting may have a larger carbon footprint than suspected. The amount of energy (the tension, "t") required to pry open a wormhole between two points in spacetime is proportional to the diameter of the throat:

wormhole_equation.jpg

Where "b" is in feet. Those are big numbers. Just sayin.

Cite
Morris, M.S. and Thorne, K.S., "Wormholes in spacetime and their use for interstellar travel," American Journal of Physics, 1988, Vol. 56 (May), pp 395-412. Cited and modified for English units in Time Machines, Paul Nahin, Springer-Verlag, NY, 1999, p. 501.

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Localblogging, 02871, WTG

Celebrate energy independence by the WTG July 5

Portsmouth's wind turbine generator will make a spectacular backdrop for a local alternative energy festival scheduled for July 5 at from 1-4 pm at the High School. According to an e-mail sent to supporters:

Energy Independence Day is July 5th! Cool Aquidneck Island, the RI Council of MoveOn.org, Channing Green Congregation, and Sierra Club RI Chapter are hosting an energy fair from 1 to 4 PM, to highlight how we Americans can free ourselves from foreign oil dependence and reduce greenhouse gases at the same time. Fun and Games for all ages! Exhibits! Prizes! Bring your family and all your friends!

For more info, or if you want to volunteer, you can e-mail David Stookey.

See you there!

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Localblogging, 02871, WTG

Portsmouth WTG on National Geographic Thursday

Thursday night, the Portsmouth wind turbine will be featured on the National Geographic Channel series "World's Toughest Fixes." Check out a preview on the National Geographic Web site. (And if you want to see the climax of the action they tease with in the promo, I caught video of the tagline snap here.)

The Portsmouth EDC moved a press release today, but Judy Tate sent a heads-up last week. And she got great pix.

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Localblogging, 02871, WTG

Tracking the wind turbine output

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Assistant Town Planner Gary Crosby at the WTG terminal

One of the tidbits in last Monday's Portsmouth Town Council meeting was the report that, in its first month of operation, the Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) had made the town approximately $35,000. Earlier this week, I stopped by Town Hall to find out where those numbers come from.

Gary Crosby is Portsmouth's Assistant Town Planner, and he, along with Portsmouth EDC member and Sustainable Energy chair Gary Gump, gave an overview of the monitoring system provided to the town by turbine manufacturer AAER. There are two SCADA terminals in town, one at Town Hall and one at the Fire Department.

"The one at Town Hall is just there to monitor, there is one in the fire station with operational controls," said Gump. "They have a big red button that can start or stop the turbine."

Physically, the "SCADA terminal" is just a web application on a computer sitting next to the rack of gear that occupies a corner of business development director Bill Clark's office. There are several screens of graphical information, showing real-time as well as historical data about all aspects of the WTG's operation.

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WTG terminal at Town Hall

"There are a gazillion sensors," said Crosby. "The datastream goes to [AAER's] Canadian center where they monitor the operational parameters in their surveillance facility. Then the datastream is sent back here."

On that day, the terminal showed that the WTG was producing about 400 kilowatts. The turbine has been set to artificially lower production limits during its run-in period, Crosby explained, as AAER captured wind data to tune the turbine for the local conditions. All of this is covered under the warranty and the maintenance contract with the manufacturer.

But even in these early results, "the averages are what we would expect," Gump said. The turbine produced power for 427 hours since March 18, generating 252 megawatts.

There are two income streams which add up to the $35K number, Gump explained. "One is per Renewable Energy Certificates (REC), which are 4 cents per kilowatt. So 250 [megawatts of] RECs is about $10,000. And the electricity generated, for which the approximate revenue is about 10-11 cents per kilowatt-hour, so between $25-27,000."

The numbers are approximate, because the Town actually gets the generation revenue as an offset against usage. "We'll have to wait till we see our first power bill," said Crosby. "According to regulations from the Public Utilities Commission, we don't get to credit all our accounts, just the top 5 [town meters]."

For the present, the numbers are being posted on the bulletin board across from the Town Clerk's office, but Gump said they are working with AAER to see if they can figure out a way to post the data on the Town web site.

And Crosby and Gump took the opportunity to explain the difference between the Town turbine and the one at the Abbey. They had gotten some questions about why the Town turbine turns more slowly, and why it doesn't appear to spin as often as the one at the Abbey.

"The turbine at the Abbey is always turning; that's a design decision," said Crosby. "But it's not making power until it reaches 28 rpm. Ours will not turn when the wind speed is below 3.3 meters per second [7 mph] but as soon as it starts turning, it is producing power. And it when the wind reaches 11.5 meters per second [25 mph] it is turning as fast as it ever will. Never faster than about 19 rpm. Compared to to the Abbey — at 19 rpm they haven't even started producing yet, but we can generate 2.5 times the power."

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Gary Gump explains control panel in WTG.

Gump had to take some photos inside the turbine, so I tagged along. The first thing you notice, approaching it, is the difference in sound. When you're up close to the Abbey turbine, there is a definite, individual sound as the blade descends, not quite a "whump," but a distinct sound. At the Portsmouth turbine, even standing directly below it, there is only a vague, sustained "whooshing" as the blades rotate. My sense is that it is significantly quieter. Part of it is likely due to the height of the tower, but the aerodynamics of the blades helps.

"The blade technology improves every year," Gump explained.

The loudest sound at the base is actually the hum from the step-up transformer that brings the WTG output of 690 volts up to the 13.5kV for the grid.

There is a bulkhead door at the top of a short flight of metal steps. "The Fire Department has a key," Gump said. Inside the base, there is a central panel showing readouts on the power coming down from the generator, and a control panel on the wall that mirrors the information on the SCADA display. In the middle is s big red button. "That's the emergency stop," said Gump.

There is a thrumming echo inside the tower; not loud, but constant, and you can feel vibration in the walls. "You have to imagine the dynamic stress," said Gump. "The torque from the blade at the top is going to be different than the blade at the bottom."

Outside the turbine, the construction equipment has been removed, but the site is still being restored. Eventually, all the hay bales will be gone and it will look pretty much as it did before. At the base of the approach road, a new National Grid meter tracks the power being generated.

"We haven't looked at that meter," Gump said, "But we're comfortable that the production will be close to the model in the economic feasibility study."

Resources:
Pictures from tour up on Flickr
Visit the Portsmouth Sustainable Energy site for more info.
Visit AAER to learn more about the folks who made the turbine. (Great team picture here.)

Editorial note: Thanks to former water board member Rich Gottlieb for explaining SCADA terminals and setting up the show-and-tell.

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Localblogging, 02871, WTG

Portsmouth rocks Planet Forward

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L-R Frank Sesno, Carol Browner, Rich Talipsky.

Portsmouth Economic Development Committee (PEDC) Chair Rich Talipsky appeared on the PBS show Planet Forward tonight, talking about our new wind turbine with Obama science Advisor Carol Browner, along with RWU student Kyle Toomey who shot the video featured on the program.

You can see all the videos on tonight's Planet Forward show page

Congratulations to the PEDC for their hard work that put Portsmouth in the national spotlight. And, again, let's give ourselves a collective pat on the back for passing the bond to build this turbine.

Resources:
ProJo story on RWU team that shot the video
Portsmouth EDC Sustainable Energy site
Previous turbine coverage here in the tag WTG.
Wind Turbine photos by: Bruce Ryerson, Portsmouth photographer Judy Tate, and a couple of mine

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Localblogging, 02871, WTG

Portsmouth WTG to be featured on PBS

Planet%20ForwardPortsmouth's new wind turbine will be featured on the debut of Planet Forward, an innovative citizen media project sponsored by PBS, set to air on Wednesday, April 15. Roger Williams University prof Michael Scully led a team of students producing video packages for the Web site and show (their work was featured in a recent ProJo story) and one of the projects, a feature on the Portsmouth turbine, was selected from the hundreds of submissions.

According to a statement sent to local media, Portsmouth Economic Development Committee (EDC) chair Rich Talipsky travelled to Washington, D.C. recently to take part in a panel discussion for the PBS show with the student, Kyle Toomey, journalist Frank Sesno and Carol Browner, President Obama’s Special Assistant for Energy and Climate Change. The show’s taping was done in front of a live audience at the Jack Morton Theatre at George Washington University.

I know what I'm going to be doing next Wednesday night. Celebrating Portsmouth's accomplishment, the hard work of the EDC, and the vision of the voters of our town who approved the bond for the turbine. Yay, us.

Resources:
Check out the Planet Forward site and Kyle Toomey's video about Portsmouth's wind turbine.

Portsmouth EDC Sustainable Energy site

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Localblogging, 02871, WTG

Portsmouth takes keys to the turbine

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Town Administrator Robert Driscoll accepts the key to the Portsmouth Wind Turbine from Alex Pichs, AAER’s Northeast U.S. Sales Manager. Photo courtesy PEDC.

Portsmouth officially accepted the new wind turbine generator from contractor AAER at an informal meeting yesterday, the Portsmouth Economic Development Committee (PEDC) announced today. With minor technical issues hammered out over the last few days, and a review of the voluminous documentation complete, the town made their final payment and took the keys.

Robert Driscoll, Portsmouth Town Administrator said, "This project is testimony to the hard work of the Economic Development Committee under the leadership of Rich Talipsky and the Sustainable energy Subcommittee led by Gary Gump. This volunteer work and the cooperation between the Town and AAER were key to this project becoming a reality."

According to information provided by the EDC, the contract with AAER guarantees 90 percent availability for the first six months (95 percent out to two years) and pays the town for revenue lost if the wind turbine is not able to operate at rated power. In addition to the two-year bumper-to-bumper warranty, the Town has contracted with AAER to maintain the turbine for the first 10 years of operation with an option to continue to the end of life (which is expected to be greater than 20 years).

The wind turbine is expected to produce enough energy to supply over 60 percent of the town’s electrical needs (schools, fire and police stations, street lights, etc.) and return over $200,000 net positive revenue to the town the first year in operation.

The 1.5 megawatt turbine generator is expected to provide over 3 million kilowatt-hours of power per year. Under RI's new net billing law, this production will displace electrical power that the town normally buys from the power company. In addition, the Town will sell the energy’s environmental attributes to the green power provider, People’s Power & Light, for use in GreenStart. Together, the annual savings and income will more than cover the annual cost of operation and debt service.

Some site restoration work is still ongoing and a formal dedication ceremony is planned for later in the Spring.

Editorial note: Yup, this one's mostly from a press release.

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Portsmouth WTG goes FULL AUTO

According to an e-mail from Economic Development Committee chair Rich Talipsky at 6pm this evening, the Portsmouth wind turbine has passed its checkout testing and is now operating in fully automatic mode, which means that as soon as there is sufficient wind, it comes on line to provide power to the grid. When the wind drops off, it automatically cuts out. Talipsky notes that the Town is currently reviewing the documentation prior to officially taking ownership:

There are three, three-inch binders of specifications and testing data, so we will take the weekend to do a thorough review. To allow sufficient time for review, and barring finding any discrepancies in the documentation, we plan to take ownership of the WTG on Monday March 23, 2009. However, even now, before formally accepting ownership, the town will be gaining full electric production credit from National Grid and accumulating Renewable Energy Certificates as the WTG makes power.

Don’t be concerning if you think the WTG is operating slower than the one at Portsmouth Abbey. The Portsmouth Town WTG is designed to operate at about half the RPM of the Portsmouth Abbey’s WTG, while producing over two and a half times the power.

You can see it from where we live, and from Park Ave, it really is an awesome site, spinning against the sunset.

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Portsmouth wind turbine ON THE GRID!

The Portsmouth wind turbine generator went online last night, according to an e-mail this morning from Economic Development Committee chair Rich Talipsky. Although it is still officially in test mode, says Talipsky, it is already cranking out money for the town.

The Portsmouth Wind Turbine Generator started its official test, continuously supplying power to National Grid Wednesday evening March 19th. The generator is undergoing a 12 hour test during which it must operate continuously and flawlessly as its final test to be put in continuous, automatic operation on the electric grid. After the successful completion of the test (expected mid day on Thursday, March 20th), the town will begin it process of reviewing contractor records and conducting verifications before it accepts ownership of the wind turbine. Even before the town accepts ownership it still accumulates energy credits from National Grid and Renewable Energy Certificates that equates to revenue for the town.

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Localblogging, 02871, WTG