Anoka to get progressive - to get a muni wind turbine - Location, location, location.

The Friday, July 11, 2008 print and online Anoka County Union [ABC Newspapers] have the story, online here.

IN GENERAL: If this is the first turbine, picking a manufacturer is a major decision, since the desire would be to standardize if/when other turbines are installed in the muni-coop power situation described [connecting into the grid, with multiple locations rather than a windfarm in a high-and-constant-wind location, the idea being sometimes you are a net provider into the grid, sometimes a net power consumer, and on average self-sustaining or a net provider on average]. Or at least you aim to get wind power cheap enough to be competitive even if you are a net grid consumer having less than self-sufficient wind capacity installed. I think the NREL research goal is 3 cents per killowatt-hour.

This effort apparently will not be aimed at instantly gaining self-sufficiency in any of the affiliated muni locales. Or at least not at the planned Anoka site. That would require more turbines than the single first one now being considered.

It will be a 500kw turbine and that is a mid-size to small unit, when utility scale turbines are contemplated -- bigger than anything Joe Farmer would put near the home, and sufficient for a rural town perhaps, but insufficient for any substantial fraction of the Anoka power demand with only the single 500kw unit.

LOCATION: The location - the real estate agent's mantra - 11th Ave. and Grant St. generally around where the Cub Store is at the Round Lake - Highway 10 intersection-area. North side of Highway 10.

I would expect more wind capacity could be put into Anoka later, if they like what they get with the first unit. There is the open area around Federal Cartridge where the little storage huts are, and Federal Cartridge might lease the usage. Beyond that, there is the acreage around the Rum River library site, where there are no trees on much of the land to hamper wind flow.

And that site is publicly owned.

Presumably the wind flow studies have been carefully done around Grant & 11th, because site selection without that would be cosmetic and not substantial. If the wind velocities are insufficient the turbine can prove to be a failure. It is the first and most important step to assure your match of wind and turbine type is optimized.

The ABC reporting is online, and comprehensive.

A few highlight excerpts are:

Power co-op looks to put wind turbine in Anoka
Thursday, 10 July 2008
by Mandy Moran Froemming
Union Editor

The Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA) would like to start generating wind energy in the city of Anoka’s backyard.

The electricity co-operative, of which the city-owned Anoka Municipal Utility is a member, is looking for ways to meet future obligations of producing energy through renewable resources and inspiring clean energy practices in Minnesota communities.

Representatives from Avant Energy, the consulting firm contracted by the MMPA to manage a number of projects and the operation of its Faribault power plant, met with city staff and council at a June 23 work session.

Avant Energy is heading up a plan to put wind turbines in each of the MMPA’s 12-member municipalities.

The MMPA will pay for the project with clean renewable energy bonds (CREB). According to Voss, the MMPA was awarded $23 million in zero interest bond funding from the federal government.

Part of the proposal to secure this funding was MMPA’s proposal to put wind turbines in each of its member municipalities throughout the state, which includes Anoka, Arlington, Brownton, Buffalo, Chaska, East Grand Forks, Le Sueur, North St. Paul, Olivia, Shakopee and Winthrop.

Voss said this location works because the limited amount of residential neighborhoods in the area. He said the city looked at several locations in Anoka, but had to take in to account several factors. Site selection was limited because the turbine must be at least 300 feet from the Mississippi and Rum rivers.

Dahlen [Derick Dahlen, founder and president of Avant Energy] said it would be similar in size to the turbine recently installed at the new Great River Energy headquarters in Maple Grove.

According to Finance Director Lori Yager, the utility is no longer seeing the $1.5 to $2 million profits the city enjoyed in the late 1990s and 2001-2003.

Mayor Bjorn Skogquist has been an advocate of finding new ways to keep the utility profitable. He said rising power costs make it much less inviting to live and do business in Anoka.

“I’ve been beating this drum for a while,” said Skogquist. “I’m looking for things we could do and should do instead of just passing the rate (increases) on.”

They are lucky to have Mayor Bjorn. A breath of fresh air in comparison to the County Board oldsters.

Ramsey will be getting its new mayor, who hopefully will be as progressive as Bjorn Skogquist, the one Morgan Grams helped Anoka to attain.

Progress is good. Sensible progress, not dreams and fantasy and improvident spending.

Anoka is trumping its neighbor towns with this step into 21st century energy answers beyond any beguiling stupidity such as Newt Gringrich and others are touting - drill here, drill now, pay less.

If that garbage were real Big Oil would be drilling where they already have leases, and it is not happening because that entire mantra is one big colossal lie.