Schools and Wind Turbines
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October 21, 2008
Wind Turbines and the Schools of Martha’s Vineyard
With the passage of the Green Communities Act this summer, many exciting and brand new concepts using
renewable energy systems (solar electric and wind turbines) are now possible.
Net metering, a credit for power generated and not used on site, will now be credited from month to month
and can accumulate without penalty. Power assignment, the ability to assign power from a renewable energy
project to any other NStar account (essentially free of charge), will be possible for the first time.
The focus of this letter is wind turbines and schools. For the same power rating, wind turbines typically
have more than double the yearly output of solar photovoltaic cells for less than one fourth of the cost. As
the wind consultant for the Charter School (recent recipient of the Mass. Tech. Collaborative wind turbine
feasibility study grant), my investigation has shown that wind turbines and the schools on the island, with the
amazing possibilities made real by the Green Communities Act, will be a revolutionary combination.
They will offer our schools fixed price electricity, desperately needed budget relief, and insulation from
inflation due to fossil fuel costs. Wind turbines and schools will play a vital role in reducing our use of fossil
fuels and our destruction of our environment.
Wind Turbines and Schools:
Beginning in 1993 in Spirit Lake, Iowa with the installation of a large wind turbine next to a school to offset
their electrical load, the concept of using renewable energy projects to assist schools has met with continued
success.
Schools with wind turbines enjoy electricity at fixed rates for the life of the wind turbine, and depending on
turbine size, may also benefit from a continuous revenue stream from the sale of electricity.
One Wind Turbine Serving Many Schools: Net Metering and Power Assignment
An important idea to investigate is what the best model will be for connecting wind turbines with schools.
The model that we are developing (in informal discussions between Sam Berlow (chairman of the MV Public
Charter School Board), myself, Dr. Bob Tankard (former principal of West Tisbury School and member of
the Tisbury School Committee and All Island School Committee), and Superintendent James Weiss) uses a
large wind turbine to serve many schools.
A large wind turbine, built from pooling grant money from multiple schools, costs much less and produces
much more power than multiple smaller turbines located at each school. In addition, this larger turbine can
be remotely located and via net metering and power assignment can be connected to each school.
What is Net Metering and Power Assignment?
The Green Communities Act of 2008 requires NStar to deliver, for free, the power from a wind turbine (or
solar panels) to any NStar account the turbine owner specifies – thus the turbine owner (the schools) can
assign power for free to the schools – this is one of the most far-reaching parts of the new Green
Communities Act of 2008.
What Are Some Advantages of One Turbine for Many Schools?
Pooling funds and resources to construct one large turbine saves each school and their respective energy
committees from “reinventing the wheel” and facing all of the design, engineering, and construction
challenges alone. There is a tremendous savings in buying a larger turbine – the cost per kWh of output
drops dramatically, there is only one electrical engineering and installation expense, one foundation, one crane
rental, etc.
All the money that would be spent by each school in duplicating this infrastructure, in design and
construction costs, could instead be applied to getting a larger turbine that would generate enough electricity
to completely cover each school’s electrical load as well as provide a revenue stream to each school.
This of course would greatly simplify siting issues – instead of finding appropriate sites for seven wind
turbines to serve each school, one common site can be developed that will be large enough for one or two
large wind turbines – enough to power all of the schools.
It is interesting to note that several schools (Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, the Regional High School, West Tisbury
School), because of their proximity to the Martha’s Vineyard Airport and related FAA limitations on wind
turbine size and height, will not be able to install a wind turbine that can meet their entire electrical load.
Likewise, the Tisbury School site is too small for a wind turbine that can meet its entire electrical load.
It would be a shame to spend money on a small wind turbine project that can’t meet a school’s entire load,
thereby leaving a portion of the school electrical load to grow in cost every year as electricity prices follow
fossil fuel prices.
It would make much more sense to pool the funding from many schools to fund a large turbine project that
can meet the total electrical loads of all of the island’s seven schools.
This would essentially create a fixed price for electricity for each school for the life of the wind turbine
(typically 25 years). And as more schools migrate towards using heat pumps instead of fossil fuel for their
heating systems, the island’s schools could migrate to a net zero status – certainly a first in the nation.
Who Can Enjoy Net Metering and Power Assignment?
The urgency of this issue is the upcoming decision to determine who will be able to enjoy the benefits of net
metering and power assignment.
Now that the Green Communities Act is law, it is up to the Mass. Dept of Public Utilities to figure out how to
regulate it. I contacted Mass. DPU to find out more about their public hearings on this act – upon hearing
about my wind turbine farm concept (similar to the school concept) and the school turbine idea outlined
above, Director Barry Perlmutter at the Mass. Dept of Public Utilities asked me to present written comments
at the Oct 30th public hearing in Boston on net metering and how power assignment will be handled (as
described in the Green Communities Act of 2008).
The Net Metering Power Assignment Quota: Who Gets In?
According to the Green Communities Act, NStar is required to allow 1% of their peak load into this power
assignment program – essentially 50 megawatts of wind turbines – for the entire Cape, Islands, and eastern
Massachusetts area. This means that for all of the customers in the NStar territory, only about 35 large wind
turbines will get into the quota. Once these 35 turbines are up, the quota is full.
This means that the people that get into this 1% quota will be able to assign power from their turbine to any
other account – and get retail or close to it in return.
Once this 50 megawatt quota of wind turbines is full, then all other renewable energy projects will only be
able to sell their excess power to Nstar for wholesale and will not be allowed to assign power to other
accounts.
Obviously, there is a dramatic difference between getting retail for one’s excess power and getting
wholesale. And if you miss the quota then you are doomed to selling your electricity at wholesale rates
instead of being able to assign it to any Nstar account.
Mass. DPU Hearing to Decide Who Gets In: October 30th
The Mass. DPU has a firm understanding on how this will create great pressure to get into the 1% quota –
who will decide who gets into this group? Will community based projects (like farms, schools, senior
centers, etc.) get preferential treatment?
The October 30th public hearing was the first opportunity to present written and verbal comments about
what the public thinks about net metering and power assignment. I went up with Dr. Robert Tankard to
present our thoughts on schools, farms, and Martha's Vineyard.
At the hearing, I was able to present ten letters from various stakeholders on the Vineyard (the Charter
School, the Superintendent of Schools on MV, the Town of Tisbury, the Island Grown Initiative, Northern
Pines Farm, Thimble Farm, and Nelson Mechanical Design)
Preferential Treatment for Schools, Municipal Projects, and Farms:
I think many will agree that something as important and as powerful in so many ways as net metering and
power assignment should be used foremost to benefit the community. Private developers should not be
allowed to fill up the quota with for-profit projects.
We have already spoken to some private developers that are working on projects now that would essentially
gobble up the entire quota for the gain of a few at the expense of the many.
This would result in community-based renewable energy projects losing the ability to assign power and
forcing them to accept wholesale instead of retail rates for their power.
Sincerely,
Brian K. Nelson
Nelson Mechanical Design, Inc.
PO Box 4778
Vineyard Haven, MA 02568
www.nmdgreen.com
508 696 3120 p &
Martha's Vineyard Wind Energy Info Site
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