Broadcasting on Wind Energy
 - Windustry Event – State College, PA

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a forum for Distributed Wind Energy, hosted by Lisa Daniels and the “Windustry” team at my Alma Mater, Penn State University, in State College, PA. 

Attendees included half a dozen Wind Industry pioneers, site developers, turbine manufacturers, staff and students from 8 Universities, financial experts, municipal administration, and State and Federal funding agencies.



Brian Kuhn - Aeronautica Wind



Panel discussions covered turbine manufacturer product comparisons (I counted 4 US and 4 foreign manufacturers in attendance), wind project development, community education, permitting, financial planning and structuring, federal and state funding opportunities and national policy.

The following are some of my notes from the event:

Community education and involvement is frequently overlooked yet, it is a key first step to a successful project.


Roger Dixon

 Every state, town, and utility presents unique challenges. Hire experts to manage your project! They pay for themselves over and over again by shepherding your project around the many traps.

Roger Dixon (right) of Skylands Renewable Energy fielded questions during a workshop on wind resources, and small wind systems economics.

Roy Butler

Roy Butler (right) of Four Winds Renewable Energy gave a workshop on wind energy measurement, its dynamics, and the mathematics behind analyzing field data.

Start the process as early as you can. Site wind data collection and analysis takes a long time and is relied upon heavily by the investment community (Broadcasters can save money by utilizing transmission towers to host measuring equipment).

There are significant Grant and Incentive dollars available (now) for renewable energy projects:

• If you or your company start a renewable energy project in 2011 and finish it by the end of 2012 (guidelines apply here…), you may qualify for (1) a grant from the Federal Government equal to 30% of your capital expense and (2) utilization of MACRS and other accelerated depreciation incentives.

• The USDA provides grant funding through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) for up to 25% of a project’s cost for small rural businesses (and Farms). They also provide loan guarantees of up to 80% of the project loan amount (for loans less than $5MM) through the REAP and the broader based Business and Industry (B&I) loan program. The B&I approval process has a faster turn-around. USDA loan guarantees mean much lower interest expense over the life of your project.

• State and utility grants, credits, and tax incentives may contribute significantly to your project’s bottom line. Money for feasibility studies is also available in many states. Depending upon the circumstances, cash incentives can pay for as much as 50% of a project. Your state and utility renewable energy policies will also have a major impact on a project’s economic feasibility. The DSIRE database http://www.dsireusa.org/ is the best resource available to gather the specifics on your state’s incentives.

Tom Wind



• Creative Financial structures are also available. For example, Tom
  Wind, of Wind Utility Consulting, described the “Minnesota Flip” financial model that contemplates the investor owning the asset during the first several years and then passing ownership to the energy user (for very little money) once the tax benefits and / or initial financing terms have expired.

• There were a number of discussions regarding the need for a long term national renewable energy policy. Many said that the current patchwork funding from Congress raises uncertainty, increases cost and represents one of the renewable industry’s biggest challenges.

The Policy Discussion

Policy concerns were echoed by former PA Secretary of Environmental Protection, John Hanger, as he addressed a lunchtime crowd:

• US renewable energy policy is out of alignment with our national goals. Goals are currently left to state legislators. Some of our windiest states have infrastructures that restrict the development of renewable energy. We need a cohesive national plan.

• 70% of our oil is imported. Fossil fuel interests are vastly outspending renewable energy’s educational and lobby efforts. They are using widely circulated platforms (I.e. the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page) to spread misinformation and to effectively declare war on renewable energy.

 

• Nearly one third of the 300,000 MW of coal fired utility plants in the US have no pollution controls whatsoever.

• Enormous fossil fuel “subsidies” are woven into our nation’s fabric: our foreign policy, the cost of defending foreign oil fields, depletion of our fresh water sources, our income tax code and even, our health (I.e. the CDC reports that between 14,000 and 36,000 people die each year in the US due to NOX and SOX related poisoning).

• A strong bi-partisan effort is needed to establish sensible long term renewable energy goals and standards.

• Despite significant headwinds, renewable energy is growing and becoming less expensive. The US now represents 25% of the worldwide renewable power generation. Five years ago, solar energy cost approximately $10 per watt. It’s now $3.50 / watt. Wind energy was $6 per watt, and is now $2-3 per watt.

Our Company believes that broadcasting, farm and rural based towers and transmission systems are very well suited for distributed, renewable energy generation systems. Our mission is to research, encourage and promote the policies, and technical standards required to foster the growth of alternative energy within the broadcasting domain. Feel free to contact us to become involved or to add your voice to the cause:



http://www.robertmillerconsulting.com/

Wind Farms: TV and Radio Interference

Over the past several years, wind turbine blade construction has advanced considerably, moving from an aluminum composition (prone to reflect and scatter radio signals) to a much more “radio friendly” construction of fiberglass composites. Despite these advances, “big wind farm” developers still face two challenges with signal interference:


1) Radar interference
Wind farm turbine blades are known to interfere with the radar tracking of weather systems and airplanes. The tip of a turbine blade may reach 170 MPH creating “doppler clutter” and cause the radar to misinterpret the data it is receiving. For example, a weather radar may reflect the wind shear between the fast moving blades as a tornado. An air traffic control radar, on the other hand,  may temporarily lose track of an aircraft flying near to or behind a wind farm’s blades. In 2008, the Department of Homeland Security commissioned a study that stated “Despite these difficulties, there is no fundamental physical constraint preventing detection and mitigation of windmill clutter. The technologies of wind turbines and radar can coexist.”  (http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dod/jason/wind.pdf)


2) Digital Television and Radio Interference
Transmitter interference is driven by many variables including the TV receiver location in relation to the wind farm and the transmitter, the proximity of a wind farm to the transmitter, the frequency used and the receiver technology. Wind farms have been known to cause interference to over-the-air (OTA) digital television signals. A DTV signal passing through a wind farm turbines’ blades to a distant receiver can be met with issues inside the TV receivers’ internal circuitry causing pixilation, or no picture at all. Depending upon the projected level of interference, a wind farm developer may need to purchase cable or satellite services for neighborhoods whose OTA signal will be impaired following a wind farm’s construction. Click on this youtube video to see a clip from our latest DTV interference research :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcTMQ1C3TEI&context=C329e979ADOEgsToPDskLiDaypwDS7pPZBQmLqx4Pp

While somewhat more resilient than DTV signals, microwave signals and their paths must be fully evaluated during a wind farm's planning stages.

AM radio transmission is highly susceptible to interference by turbine towers constructed close to the transmitter site. The rule of thumb for developers is to construct the turbine(s) at least 1 kilometer away from the AM antenna array (3 km’s for directional antenna settings). When you build a turbine close to an AM station you will also need to take worker safety precautions to prevent electrical burns.  Take a look at this 1 minute video taken at a construction site < 1 km from an AM antenna:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiirMEdiJQI&feature=plcp&context=C3145d56UDOEgsToPDskIrBDFS6gKJt2QimZehRcSn

Traditional (analog) FM radio is far less susceptible to wind farm interference, given the nature of the FM radio receivers’ circuitry.


This wind solar facility in Atlantic City, New Jersey has 3 FM stations co-located among the blades of the turbines.  The stations' Chief Engineer reports that he has seen no interference issues in the 5 years that the turbines have been in operation.

Needless to say, all wind farm planning must include a complete RF interference study to identify all potential interference to RF, establish a solid baseline and to mitigate problem areas prior to construction.

Distributed Wind
Distributed wind typically involves a standalone turbine and has far less potential to cause radar, radio or TV interference. Small wind systems (less than 100 kW) are shorter and less massive and typically don’t affect military radar. Increasingly, small wind power is being deployed to power television, radio and telecommunications transmission sites. Companies like Ericsson, Vodacom and Motorola are researching and implementing wind power for the next generation of remote towers.

Some stations are already powering their entire transmitter operation on renewable energy.  KRNG-FM serving Fallon, Nevada has it's 1.9 kW ERP transmitter situated 7,000 feet high on top of Two Tips Mountain.  Utility power is not available here.  The transmitter is powered soley by renewable energy including a 10 kW Bergey Excel wind turbine, a large solar panel and a battery room for energy storage.

The station occassional goes off of the air during prolonged periods of cloud cover and still winds.

Broadcast Wind is dedicated to providing engineering solutions to the Wind Energy and Broadcasting industries.   


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