I've always been fascinated by windmills and the fact that there are not more in use. I was wondering if anyone had any data on how much natural resources could be saved if every family had a windmill in their backyard. Could this help make us less dependent on oil overall and how mcuh money in the long run would this save the average family in electricity bills each year applying average speed of the windmill, I know in some areas it would be much stronger winds and in others less. Anybody have one or know the cost of a windmill and the thing that turns the windpower into elctricity?
The $40,000 ballpark price for the Bergey Windpower Co.'s 10-kilowatt generator, including a power inverter and installation, is a big enough bite to discourage anyone, especially those who may not know how long they plan to live in the same place. [ Note: Mr. Sansome received a rebate of ~ $20,000 from the California Energy Commission. ]
Sansome has figured that his windmill will pay for itself in six to eight years. The life of the gadget is estimated to be 25 to 30 years, which equals a lot of free energy over a long period of time.
Southern California Edison representative Laura Rudison estimated more conservatively the span of time before the average homeowner would break even.
"When you really run the numbers, it may be 12 or 15 years," she said. [ if you ignore the CEC rebate ]
Rudison is the project manager for Edison's Net Metering Program, which does business with customers who generate their own electricity.
Because neither the wind nor the sun provide continuous sources of power, most of those who generate power from them also rely on Edison to provide power at night or on a calm day.
By using an electric meter that runs both backward and forward, the Net Metering Program allows small, private generators to barter the power they use for the power they generate on a one-to-one basisThey have always been fairly cost-prohibitive. But what changed was that in the 1980's the windfall profit tax was repealed and along with it went all tax credits for alternative energy use. As you can see in this article, the state of California apparently has a state tax credit in place - good deal! These people ended up paying $20k instead of $40k.
The alternative energy tax credit needs to come back.
My thought is not to rely on Wind or Solar as a direct electrical source, but to utilize them to extract hydrogen from water. That way even though they are short term inconsistent, over the long run the averages are quite consistent.
Holland is doing a lot of work with windmills. They are putting them out in the shallow ocean where winds are quite consistent. A cost analysis and a method to make a quick economic comparison between wind pumps (water-pumping windmills) and diesel pumps (diesel powered water pumps) intended for use in small-scale lift irrigation are described. The analysis compares CWD wind pumps, designed for production in developing countries, with commercially available, traditional multiblade wind pumps. The variables required for comparison are: static lift, daily water requirement, and average wind speed during the period of irrigation. The analysis shows that for farmers engaged in small-scale lift irrigation on areas of up to 1 ha (2.5 acres), CWD wind pumps are economically more attractive than diesel pumps for average wind speeds during the irrigation season of 3.5 m/sec (7.8 mph). Commercial wind pumps are more attractive than diesel pumps for an average wind speed of 4.5 m/sec (10.1 mph). Alameda County supervisors voted on Thursday for an expensive plan to replace the 5,400 windmills in the Altamont hills to protect migrating birds.
The plan requires the windmills to be replaced over 13 years with taller windmills thought to be safer for birds that migrate through the area or hunt there.
The windmills, in the hills east of Livermore, generate enough power to run 120,000 homes a year, and they will cost more than $540 million to replace. New, more efficient technology should let power companies generate the same amount of power with fewer windmills.
Environmentalists say the windmills kill up to 4,700 birds a year, many of them birds of prey that hunt in the area. But they have been reluctant to criticize a non-polluting energy source.
This deal, with its 13-year timetable, was favored by power companies like Enxco over a rival plan by Attorney General Bill Lockyer, which would have forced a quicker and more expensive turnaround. Some environmental groups had demanded the windmills be shut off in winter.
North Palm Springs-based Enxco, which is one of the largest power producers in the Altamont area, is owned by French company EdF Energies Nouvelles S.A., the renewable energy arm of Electricite de France.
The new requirements will be added to 13-year wind power use permits renewed by the supervisors in September.
Not all windmills are the same. Some turn or turned grindstone, some pump water, and some make electricity. Windmills have basically the same design since 1933. There are only three types of windmills today. In the early 1900ís over 700 different water pumping windmills were being made. During the 1930ís, an 8-ft windmill cost $25.00 dollars, now that same windmill cost $1,455.00. Windmills went out of fashion in the early 1940ís. Windmills are really wanted in rugged lands or places without electricity. Some people still have old windmills.
WINDMILLS
The first windmills were used for irrigation about the 5th century AD in Persia. By the 12th century BC windmills had spread around Europe. The early European windmills turned grindstones or pumped water. The Dutch windmills were made of wooden frames and canvas was stretched to make a sail. In the late 19th century in Europe thousands of windmills were being used. In the 1980ís more than 30 companies were manufacturing wind machines. The smaller windmills on small platform seem to be more successful than the bigger windmills. Wind farms are made of anywhere from 60 to 1000 windmills in a big area. The big wind farms present problems such as noise, pollution, and disruption of radio or television although it doesnít present a problem for wildlife unless they have to cut down trees.
DENMARK
By the year 2030 Denmark will have the largest investment in wind generation. They are finding ways to make offshore foundations right now. By 2030 well over 100% of their populationís power will be coming from offshore windmills. All of the windmills will be either in the North Sea or the Baltic Sea. They have ideas for three different offshore foundations for the windmills.
KINDS OF WINDMILLS
There are two classes of windmill turbines, horizontal-axis machines and vertical-axis machines. There is one more windmill blade that has a principle of an airplane wing to make rotation. They are driven by wind simply striking the blades. An example of horizontal-axis is machines that are multi-bladed windmills of the US Prairies. They are primarily used for pumping water, modern two-three blade lift devices like huge airplane propellers. These devices have rotors of 90m (295 ft) or more in diameter. The propellers can be 5 to 6 times the winds velocity. The Oasis 3 is one of the only windmills out today. It has 24 10-inch blade that are hooked to a hub. It has a maximum speed of 100 RPM.
PROPELLERS
Propeller- A propulsion device usually used on ships and planes. Propeller is series of blades on a hub that is mounted on an engine-driven shaft (or wind). The rotation of blades in water or air produces a forward thrust. In the 1920ís George Darrieus, a French inventor, invented an efficient wind turbine. It was called the ìDarrieus Wind Turbineî. It looked like an eggbeater with two or three curved blade that hooked to the shaft. It catches the wind from all directions. The Mod-2 a government funded test windmill has 91m (300 ft) long propellers. It is 25 stories tall.
CONCLUSION
Windmills have been around for thousands of years. Some were failures; some were not. It all depended on how and what they used to build them. The first windmills were used for irrigation about the 5th century AD in Persia. In the 1920ís George Darrieus a French inventor invented an efficient wind turbine. There are two classes of windmill turbines, horizontal-axis machines and vertical-axis machines. By the year 2030 Denmark will have the largest investment in wind generation. Leaving aside the long-ago history (historic manuscripts refer to the tip of the Hull peninsula as "Windmill Point" as far back as the mid 1820s), -- this project's history is based on the work of townspeople in the early 1980s. The town installed a 40KW turbine on an 80-foot tower adjacent to Hull's High School, now sited on that same historic point of land jutting out into Boston Harbor. The funds came from the Mass. Department of Energy Resources. The windmill's cost was $78,000.
By spring of 1985 the windmill (some prefer the more precise term wind turbine) was producing energy. It produced a respectable total in its lifetime, between then and early March of 1997 when a windstorm damaged it beyond repair. The failure was due to a malfunction of its blade-tip brakes that 70 mph winds (this is a speed no longer threatening to today's windmills) were able to do it critical damage. This specific failure was in part due to the school's staff not being able to keep up with the regular maintenance schedule for the brake mechanisms.
A report in 1996 showed that the machine in its final three years of production, -- when it was no longer performing at its best -- reduced the school's electric bills by over 28%. In dollar terms this was a savings of $21,200 to the town. A DOER report had indicated that over its lifetime the windmill had saved the town nearly $70,000. It was well known in the community that John MacLeod of the Light Department had worked beyond the call of duty to enhance the turbine's value to the town, both economically and educationally. He had strong support in this from Mr. Don Newton.
These two men have continued to support windpower in Hull to the present day, MacLeod being the present Operations Manager of the Light Plant and Newton remaining an outside consultant, for wind energy and other system issues. By fall of 1997 a group of citizens led by Malcolm Brown and a group of teachers at the High School led by Anne Marcks, held meetings to plan what is now called "re-powering" the site. This planning was incorporated into the curriculum of Mrs. Marcks's senior physics class, and had good support from both the school and from Hull Municipal Light Plant, now under the management of Mr. MacLeod.
The school staff were not able, however, to take on the extra work involved in researching the project. This was in part due to the rapidly evolving development of windpower technology at the end of the 1990s. In late 1998 a new group of citizens eager to see the project go forward formed themselves into C.A.R.E. (Citizens for Alternative Renewable Energy), selected officers Malcolm Brown and Andrew Stern, and went to Hull Light to urge them to take the project on.
The plan was to work in collaboration with UMass Amherst's Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, and its director, Professor James Manwell. Prof. Manwell, along with his colleagues consults regularly for the Mass. Department of Energy Resources on windpower and other renewable's.
By fall of 1999 Manwell's team, with substantial assistance from the state DOER, completed a full engineering report. This included wind-resource assessments, discussions of regulatory issues, noise-level tabulations, projected economic viability under various brands, presentation of computer-generated photo simulations of various possible sites. It also analyzed the economics of various models of hardware. In the case of the noise levels, field studies were carried out to make sure the parcel of town-owned land adjacent to the school's athletic field was not too close to inhabited structures to meet applicable standards. Geo-technical studies were also conducted to give fuller detail to any future RFP for a turbine. Much care and attention went into these engineering studies, because of their potential to guide future projects in Massachusetts, especially in coastal communities. Care was taken to make it function as a template for others towns or agencies who might plan similar projects. The report was to be "transportable", re-applicable elsewhere. Some further time was also invested to add a sensitivity analysis, highlighting which of the factors within the analysis -- if they turned out not to be as predicted -- would impact the conclusions most.
By summer of 2000, and after a number of news reports on the project had appeared, in the Hull Times, the Tiny Town Gazette, the Patriot-Ledger and the Boston Globe, Hull Light ran an information campaign to notify townspeople of a public meeting for June 16 2000 at the High School. Mr. MacLeod, along with members of the Light Board, experts from Mass. Municipal Wholesale Electric Companies (MMWEC), the Renewable Energy Lab at UMass, as well as the Town Manager the town historian and a representative from C.A.R.E., led the presentation. They also fielded questions from the public and responded to fellow panelists. The meeting's response being on the whole strongly positive, it was announced that the light department would go ahead and put out a Request for Proposals.
Meantime Mr. MacLeod applied for the various required approvals from zoning and regulatory bodies, for the parcel of land owned by the town where the tower was to be sited.
By January of 2001 the RFP was formally put out, and by March of 2001 several bids had arrived. One windturbine manufacturer from Denmark and another from Germany sent representatives to Windmill Point for site visits.
In April of 2001 the bid of the American subsidiary of Vestas, a Danish company, was accepted. They had bid their most popular model, the V47, with a rotor-diameter of 47 meters, and a hub-height of 50 meters, rated power of 660 KW. The turnkey contract price was $698,699.00 net of the standard set of supplemental spare parts. The life-expectancy of the equipment is 20 years. We late found out that more than 1,100 of this same model of Vestas turbine were sold in the USA during calendar 2001, up from a total of 4 sold here in calendar 1997.
Contract negotiations followed. These went on for several months, during which time it became clear that here too Hull was taking on a task that had repercussions well beyond the borders of Hull. As in the state-sponsored engineering study, Hull's case was being looked at as a "first" in the Commonwealth, and its contract should double as a template for other similar projects still in the planning stages, or not yet even on the horizon. Two issues on which detailed discussions were needed were (1) under which state's statutes (California or Massachusetts) the contract should be written