Wind energy
Sometimes it seems like the wind is always blowing in Gilpin County. But does that mean that the wind is of the right sort to produce good electricity?
On Jan 7, 2010 in partnership with United Power, we installed a SkyStream 3.7 wind turbine on the Fairgrounds (Picture) outside the Extension Office.
Production data from the turbine is now online, along with data from the anemometer that was installed December of 2008.
How to read/understand the production data and put the production into perspective:
When you look at the production data, you'll see this:
The daily energy tells you how many kilowatt hours the turbine has produced on any given day. (A kilowatt hour is the unit you get charged for on your electric bill --current costs are about ten cents per kwh).
Total Energy =Total electricity production so far. You can see that it hasn't produced a lot of energy. (To put it in perspective, a typical household uses between 6-10,000 kwh per year.)
For comparison, you can look at other turbines in other areas (at the top of the production page, there are a bunch of names of other turbines in different locations). The Skystream 3.7 is capable of producing up to 6,000kwh per year in a really good wind location, with 3-4,000 being more typical. You can also chart monthly and yearly production using the chart available on the right.
The low production of our wind turbine is a factor of three things – 1) 2010 had less wind than usual, 2) our winds are gusty, not steady, and are very seasonal and 3) the mountains create a lot of turbulence (which reduces the power). The tower potentially could be higher, too, but the turbulence would still be a factor.
We are coming to learn that the only potential places where wind would probably be economically viable in this county would be on a ridge top, since the winds are steadier and less turbulent on ridges.
Even though this demonstration project is showing that wind may not the most cost-effective renewable energy resource for this area, the purpose of the project was to not only generate some renewable electricity but to also give people who might be interested in this technology a chance to see the electric production at a specific site and to be able to have hands-on access to the generator. People have the opportunity to actually see the generator in operation, determine the noise and durability of these units and to monitor in real-time the electric production of the unit.
Click here for more information on wind energy or here for powerpoints from the wind workshop ( March 20, 2010).
