Brewster contemplating wind turbines on public land

Could Brewster be the Kobe Bryant of wind energy?
[For UK readers: Kobe Bryant, American baseball star - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Bryant ]

Sean Tilly, a consultant from Black and Veatch of Boston, thinks so.

“You have a decent wind resource,” he informed the Brewster board of selectmen last week, when he presented the conclusions of a wind turbine feasibility study. The rapid slide show was dense with data.

“Anyway you slice it this project is a slam-dunk,” he proclaimed. “So under the net metering scenario it is a great deal.”

So much so that a one or two turbine project could pay for itself in a little over one month – provided it’s financed entirely with debt.

Black and Veatch’s 157-page report is available on the Brewster town Web site http://www.town.brewster.ma.us/
Above: This is a simulation, somewhat vertically enhanced, of how a turbine at the town pumping station off Freeman’s Way would appear from Route 6, facing west. Photo simulation from Black and Veatch

Black and Veatch studied six potential turbine sites; Commerce Park on Freeman’s Way, the parking lot or between the fairways at Captains Golf Course, the water department pumping station on Freeman’s Way, the Barrows property (next to the Freeman’s Way recreation fields, behind the police station and at the transfer station.

Commerce Park was tabbed as the best site for one turbine. The recommended spot for the turbine’s footprint is between the sand pit, driving range and Route 6.

The Barrows property was the best location for two turbines but it has potential endangered species problems. The pumping station, golf course and transfer station could all host two turbines while the other locales were evaluated for one.

On most sites a 40-foot wide road to the turbine location would to be built to allow for crane access.

Tilly estimated the average wind speed across the sites at around 11 mph at 49 meters above the ground (150 feet) and 15 mph at an elevation of 80 meters. B&V relied heavily on measurements made by a test tower at the golf course. Wind speeds peak in March and hit a trough in August. Breezes from the southwest would generate most of the power.

Tilly recommended large-scale turbines, either a Vestas V80 or V82s. They’re 80 to 100 meters tall with a height to the blade tip of 394 feet. Vestas is a Danish company that has around a one-third share of the world wind market. Hull uses a V80, which is rated at 1.8 megawatts. The V82 is rated at 1.65 MW and operates at lower wind speeds (between 3 and 20 meters per second). It is used at Jimmy Peak in western Mass. It is 80 meters high with an 82-meter rotor diameter and was the one used for all the modeling.

Some sites have setback issues (golf course). The Barrows, police station and transfer station are close enough to residential areas to cause shadow flicker over some homes. Three of the sites also contain biological core habitat and could harbor rare species. Noise from the turbines would be between a quiet whisper and home sounds.

“Initially sound dosen’t seem to be an issue at these sites,” Tilly said. “There could be shadow flicker affecting some houses especially around the golf course.”

Benefits to Brewster:

The financial analysis in the report assumes the turbine(s) will be municipally owned. An alternative approach would be to have the Cape & Vineyard Electric Cooperative build and run the turbine. Brewster would lease the land to the cooperative and get lower electric rates in return. Brewster will meet with the cooperative next week to discuss possible projects and benefits.

“If you go through the coop the payoff is better,” opined Jillian Douglass, Brewster’s assistant town administrator. “You’re simply reaping the benefits and you’d have a lease revenue stream in addition to the power you’re generating. They’ll even issue the bonds.”

However, you would have to buy the power from the coop.

“If you have the capital to spend you would do it municipally,” Douglass said.

Tilly noted Brewster’s annual electric consumption of 2,645,480 kWh would be offset entirely by either one or two turbines. For example a turbine at Commerce Park could produce 2,875,000 kWh a year and two turbines at the transfer station might churn out 6,654,000 kWh a year. He estimated the turbines would operate between 20 and 23 percent capacity over the year.
However, the electricity generated would hit a low during June and July, and it would not match consumption during those months.

Looking forward B&V postulated an electricity cost of $175 per MWh for the town, or $463,248 per year.

Each turbine would cost about $4.8 million, with the price jumping to between $8.5 million and $8.9 million for a twin turbine site. Taking the one turbine Commerce Park site as an example, assuming the town benefits from net metering (pumping its electricity into the general grid and receiving offsets) the 20-year cash flow should be $6,657,145 vs. a total project cost of $4,766,850. Using a discounted cash flow value of $3,693,858 the project would provide a profitability index (cost benefit ratio) of 0.81.

Assuming the town finances the turbine solely with debt and pays 4.5 percent interest on the debt over 20 years, and electricity costs $175 per MWh for an annual energy expense of $463,248 in Brewster. Factoring in a $40 per MWh renewable energy credit, the projects should pay for themselves in between 0.09 and 0.14 of one year. That’s because the return from electrical bill savings would quickly outstrip the interest payments on the bonds.

“That assumes you look to the entire life of the project to payback the loan,” Tilly said. “It will be cash flow positive almost every year.”

Sonia Mitchell of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative said the collaborative would offer the town cash grants to hire consultants.

Reproduced with permission from The Cape Codder newspaper, Orleans, Massachusetts USA; http://www.wickedlocapecod.com/