Municipal Utilities

Minnesota Local Government Renewable Energy Grants

June 24, 2010 - 9:40am -- Anonymous

The Minnesota Department of Commerce Office of Energy Security (OES) requests proposals from Minnesota school districts and local governments for the Local Government Renewable Energy Grant Program funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 and authorized by Laws of Minnesota 2009, Chapter 138, Article 3, Section 5. Grants will be awarded competitively to eligible school districts and local governments for the following technologies and amounts:

Municipal Wind Power

Wind energy projects developed by small political subdivisions of cities and townships, rural electrification cooperatives, and other municipal or quasi-municipal entities or municipally owned corporations that provide electric transmission, distribution or generation services.

SIG Field Trip event- A tour of the Hull Wind turbine

2008

TiE Boston and the CleanTech SIG once again present the unusual but very popular SIG Field Trip event- A tour of the Hull Wind turbine, featuring catered lunch on a YACHT as we sail to Hull!

The town of Hull hosts one of the premier coastal Wind Power facilities in the United States, earning a recent Department of Energy Wind Power Pioneer award for the program that provides more than 10% of Hull's energy needs.

Sign up now for this exclusive (and fun!) tour of Hull Wind 1, a 660-kilowatt wind turbine that is part of this innovative clean energy program!

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Worthington, MN: Community Wind Project

The following is an excerpt from a case study on RiverWinds project in Worthington,  MN, compiled byClean Energy Resource Teams

"In September 2000, the Worthington Public Utilities assembled a task force of citizens to investigate the merit of wind power in Worthington. Windustry, a project affiliated with the non-profit Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, funded the feasibility study through a grant from the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
Investigation results were very positive, so Worthington Public Utilities entered into a three-way partnership with Missouri River Energy Services (MRES), a joint action power agency based in Sioux Falls, and Wisconsin Public Power Inc (another power agency), to install four new 900 kW wind turbines. Worthington Public Utilities owns the distribution, while the two partners each owned two of the turbines, allowing both to qualify for the Minnesota Renewable Energy Production Incentives for projects less than 2 MW."

Fiind the repost on the CERTS website

cleanenergyresourceteams.org/files/CS_CWind_Worthington.pdf

Waverly, IA: Waverly Light and Power Community Wind Project

Midwest Municipal Utility is a Wind Power Pioneer

Waverly Light & Power (WLP) was the first utility in the Midwest to invest in wind energy with an 80 kW turbine in 1993. The municipal utility in northeast Iowa began to explore wind power as a way to diversify its energy resources, test more environmentally-friendly ways to generate electricity, and respond to the community’s interest in wind. The success of the first turbine prompted WLP to invest in two more turbines, 750 kW Zonds. This time the turbines were installed near Storm Lake in northwest Iowa to take advantage of a better wind resource and the economies of scale of that came with being part of a 259-turbine project.  

With advances in technology and costs for wind energy dropping, in 2002 WLP determined that installing a large turbine in the local area made economic sense. The 900 kW NEG Micon turbine cost $1.1 million and now provides enough annual energy for 261 homes (about 2.2 million kWh). Residents and businesses in Waverly now get about five percent of their energy from wind power. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources wrote a case study that describes the operation and economics of this turbine in detail.

WLP launched the Iowa Energy Tags program in 2001 to allow citizens from Iowa and around the country to support its wind energy initiatives. For $50, any consumer or company in Iowa or around the country can buy the equivalent of 2,500 kWh of wind-generated electricity. The cost of WLP’s wind turbine investments has been integrated into the rates of all Waverly customers, but this program allows people to contribute extra toward more wind development.

WLP General Manager Glenn Cannon has been the guiding force behind the utility’s pioneering efforts in renewable energy. In a 2002 interview with Wind Powering America, Cannon outlined his vision for doubling WLPs use of wind power and ways to help other municipal utilities follow in Waverly’s footsteps. Click here to read the full interview.

Another Waverly wind power champion is honored in the names of WLPs four turbines. They are called Skeets 1, 2, 3, and 4 as a tribute the late Russell “Skeets” Walther, a Waverly farmer who volunteered his land for the first WLP turbine. The 231-foot tall Skeets 4 now stands in same spot as the original Skeets 1 as memorial to his great commitment to wind power.

Sources: Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Wind Powering America, and Waverly Light & Power

 

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