INTRODUCTION: WIND TURBINES

Ian Engoron

TA: Peter

The world at large is at a critical point in its history. People are becoming more aware of the effect their actions, as individuals and as a society, have on the environment. A choice will, most likely, soon have to be made, on the smallest to largest scale about how much we as a generation care about future generations to come. Madison is one of the most progressive and liberal cities in America, and the UW-Madison is just as progressive if not more so than the city itself. As such a progressive university and city, why does the UW still use the charter street coal plant, which provides nearly two thirds of the energy needed to power the UW campus? Coal is one of the most harmful sources of energy production available and in use today. I am not calling the UW or the school hypocrites, but with many other schools, cities, and states focusing their attention on new, clean, renewable sources of energy, if Madison would like to stay at the forefront as a progressive, liberal city, then we need to strength our sustainable energy game. There is so much potential for the UW to improve their green energy practices, and that potential needs to be acted on if we are to maintain our school, city, and planet for those yet to be born.

As of 2008, there were “no offshore, or water-based, wind projects” in the US (Thomas Content). Apparently though, there have been a few attempts at putting wind turbines in the Great Lakes next to Wisconsin. The proximity to Madison, and the fact that the Great lakes are, obviously, lakes, and not oceans, makes these attempts an interesting and helpful case to look at to gain insight into my project. My project proposes that Madison act on the unharnessed potential for sustainable wind energy that it has and install wind turbines in both Lake Mendota and Monona. Hopefully the result of my research does not mean the same end for my proposal as it did for the ones concerning the Great Lakes. Unfortunately, there were too many obstacles to overcome and the Great Lake’s wind turbines never came to fruition. According to the Journal Sentinel, a Milwaukee based newspaper, “Any lake-based wind farm would require approval from numerous state and federal agencies – an unprecedented process that would likely take years to complete” (Thomas Content). There are a number of differences between the Great Lakes and Madison’s lakes and hopefully those differences make it possible for Madison to have wind power.

Installing of the wind turbines in lake Mendota and Monona will not be an easy process nor will it necessarily be a good idea, or even possible. This project will take a look at the feasibility of placing wind farms in those lakes. Many things will need to be considered and in the end, it may turn out that this is not a feasible idea, but with everyone who reads this, at least awareness will be raised. Much information will be needed to properly ascertain if the wind farms will make sense in the lakes, starting with information on the lakes themselves. All this can be found on the Wisconsin department of natural resources web page. According to them the surface area of lake Mendota is 9,482.46 acres, which is slightly less than 15 square miles. 9% of the lake is less than 3ft deep, 70% is over 20ft deep, and that means that the remaining 21% of the lake is between 3ft and 20ft deep with the maximum depth being 83ft. Lake Monona is much smaller, only 3,274.4 acres, almost exactly 5 square miles. 6% of the lake is less than 3ft deep and 60% of the lake is over 20ft deep, with the remaining 34% of the lake between 3ft and 20 ft deep (Wisconsin DNR). These numbers will be important in determining how many, if any, windmills can fit in the lakes.

The next thing that need be considered is the parameters of the individual windmills. There are far too may different types of windmills, So I will analyze the feasibility of using General Electrics 1.5-77 wind turbine design for the two lakes. The other reason I choose the GE turbine is because GE as a written manual on wind energy basics and will therefore provide with the deepest insight possible as to whether their turbines can be installed in the lakes of Madison. According to their website, The GE 1.5-77 is 262 ft tall and has a blade length of 116 ft (GE). According to a study done at johns Hopkins University, a spacing of 6-10 times the rotor diameter is ideal for wind farms (John Hopkins). Factoring in the size of the lakes, and using a spacing of 8 times the rotor diameter, this would mean there is room for 5 turbines in Mendota and only 2 in Monona. While this may seem like a small amount these 7 turbines would be able to make a significant difference.

Now that it has been established that it is possible to fit these turbines in the lake, the next step is establishing whether or not it actually makes sense to do. There are a number of factors that will influence the final decision, can the turbines handle the Madison lake’s environment, how much will it cost to build and install the turbines, will they end up saving money, are they effective, clean, and finally, sustainable? GE offers 1.5MW turbines in cold weather extreme models with internal heaters and extra insulation, so it can handle the temperature. Also, even at Mendota’s deepest part of 83ft, a turbine could still fit and have 63ft between the water and the lowest part of blade rotation, and if a turbine can fit in Mendota at its deepest then they can all fit in Monona as well, for it is shallower.

According to US department of energy, at a height of 80 m, the wind around Madison blows at an average of 8-10 m/s (US DOE). According to GE this is the optimal wind speed for their 1.5MW turbine. At a good wind site, which we just established Madison was, a 1.5MW turbine “can produce enough electricity to supply the annual needs of about 400 average US homes” (GE Manual). With 7 turbines, a little fewer than 3000 homes could be powered every year. This is a substantial number of homes and assuming many of those households have more than more person, then more than 3000 individuals could be supplied by these turbines. If you apply that to the UW as opposed to regular homes, the UW could power a significant number of educational/research/ and dormitory buildings.

The most unfortunate part about wind turbines is its cost, to both build and consume energy from. According to GE, costs of course vary based on site-specific conditions, but in general “wind power development can cost around $2 million per megawatt of generating capacity installed” (GE Manual) This means that a 1.5MW turbine can cost around $3 million, especially if the have to install the turbine in the middle of a lake. To make matters worse, on top of the cost of installation, According the Energy Information Association (of America), in 2006, wind energy on average costs up to $3 more to consume than energy produced by coal and natural gas (EIA). Both the cost to install and the cost to consume are rather high, which just offers more incentive for people to keep the status quo and not switch to cleaner, sustainable, albeit more expensive energy. However, wind power consumption costs are dropping and in the future they will hopefully be parallel, if not cheaper than their green house gas emitting counter parts.

There are three more problems with the turbines being placed in the lakes, and all three in my eyes, are trivial compared to the acquisition and use of sustainable energy. The lake is open for fishing, sailing, swimming, and a number of other aquatic activities. I questioned my three roommates, who have all used the lakes at least once for an aquatic activity, and they said they would have a problem with no longer being able to use all of the lake. This is most likely indicative to the attitudes many others hold and would therefore not want the turbines installed as well. To these people I say, what is more important, being able to take sailing lessons 4 months out of the Madison year, or working towards ensuring the lives of our children and their children? The answer is obvious, the latter. Then there are those who complain about the view and the noise, otherwise known as NIMBY’s (Not In My Back Yard). NIMBY’s want turbines out of sight and out of hearing range (GreenBeat). That will obviously not be possible given the relatively small size of the body of water we are dealing with. To these people I ask the same question I asked to those who want to be able to go in the lake, and the answer is the same, the wind turbines are obviously more worth it. The third problem with the wind turbines is their potential damage to birds. Many people claim that birds get killed and their migratory flight patters disrupted by the turbines. To them I ask which is worse for the birds, that turbines should kill a few birds every year, or that the greenhouse gasses from other, dirtier forms of energy will eventually wipe out their species and potentially ours as well. The answer is again obvious, a few birds are worth sacrificing (who also have the chance to adapt, they don’t HAVE to keep flying the same exact routes) for the sake of their species and ours, and the turbines are worth it.

A decision has not been made about whether it is indeed worth it to install turbines in the lakes, and that is because it is not my decision to make, there is no clear right answer here. Obviously clean, sustainable energy is desired and sought after, but at what cost. This would be a very expensive project; one that I personally am not sure is worth it. That seems to be the theme with clean, sustainable energy, it is always more expensive. As one student in my environmental studies class put it , “pay no attention to Economics 101, the University’s mounting budget problems, the huge Wisconsin state budget deficit and Wisconsin’s snowballing debt. Environmentally correct options are the only options. Nothing else need be consider,” and there are plenty more who agree with him. What I have learned is that this project is possible, it is feasible, but it is most likely not affordable.

References:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/29588649.html (Thomas Content)

http://dnr.wi.gov/lakes/ (Wisconsin DNR)

http://www.ge-energy.com/products_and_services/products/wind_turbines/ge_1.5_77_wind_turbine.jsp (GE)

http://gazette.jhu.edu/2011/01/18/new-study-yields-better-turbine-spacing-for-large-wind-farms/ (John Hopkins)

http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/wind_resource_maps.asp?stateab=wi (US DOE)

http://www.ge-energy.com/content/multimedia/_files/downloads/wind_energy_basics.pdf (GE Manual)

http://www.eia.gov/oiaf/archive/ieo06/special_topics.html (EIA)

http://venturebeat.com/2010/03/01/great-lakes-wind-farms-are-failing-the-nimby-test/ (GreenBeat)