CDC looks at new ideas on wind turbine generators

Dave Glenn of MSU Extension made a visit to the County Development Commission meeting Thursday and reported on an interesting concept that may emerge sometime in Presque Isle County?s future. ?Mary Ann Heidemann and I attended a meeting in Mackinaw City of about 15 interested persons including farmers from Moltke Township, and Jim Zakshesky and Richard Wright,? Glenn said. ?We looked at the potential for wind turbine generators.?

Glenn said the Bay Wind Power Company was responsible for bringing the turbines to Traverse City and Mackinaw City, along with Comstock Construction who completed the construction on the Traverse City and Mackinaw projects, as well as 400 other turbines in California.

Steve Schnell, the Community Development Director for Mackinaw City, helped make the meeting possible. Glenn said the group made a site visit to two wind turbines and to viewed them during peak high wind conditions.

?We saw them at the highest level performance in high winds and actually stood inside the tower,? Glenn said. ?We discussed the pros and the cons about the turbines, with the noise being of some concern, but under the conditions we saw the noise was not a problem.?

Glenn said a truck going down the road was about as loud as the turbines, and the group was able to carry on a conversation within the actual tower. Mackinaw City had good community support for this development idea and now has two wind turbine generators in use. ?The next step is for Presque Isle County to host a visit for viewing potential sites and possibilities,? Glenn said. ?Then the wind conditions would be monitored using a 150-foot tower to test the wind levels at several sites. Finally the company would bring in some meteorologists from California to make further recommendations.?

GLENN SAID a committee would need to be formed to move the issue forward, and that this could become a big role for the CDA get involved in. The testing procedures will take up to a year to gather the information necessary to determine whether to go ahead or not. ?It takes something like 42 semi trucks just

to get the equipment moved in, and Moran (Iron Works) could handle the tower work.? Glenn said the towers were designed to be taken down and removed if necessary and that land could be leased from the farmers if those were the sites decided upon.

?It promotes clean air, water and resources,? Glenn continued. ?Each generator produces one megawatt per turbine which will power 250 homes. The cost is $1 million per tower.? Glenn said that once a committee is formed, a variety of high quality people need to be considered. ?Each wind tower generator needs to be located within three miles of a substation,? Glenn said.

The thought that Calcite might be a good location also came up because of its proximity to a substation. Glenn said, ?It takes about one year of testing before anything can be determined and also requires a large area of land such as industrial or farm land. We?ll keep you posted on the progress about this.?