PEAT Peaks Environmental Action Team

Wind Testing Effort on Peaks Island

Peaks Wind Group 

WHO?

Peaks Wind Group is an offshoot of PEAT, the Peaks Environmental Action Team. We are drawn together by our desire to find out if the wind resource on the island can be harnessed for the benefit of the community. We are volunteers, not investors. We meet as the need arises, keeping a larger email list of interested folks on the island informed. We welcome newcomers to our effort (call 899-0922 and ask for Sam). Since January of 2009 we have sponsored a series of public information meetings with guest speakers here on energy topics, including the Fox Islands wind project, wind testing procedures and analysis, state energy policy, and solar hot water systems. We have made three additional presentations to inform the Peaks Island Council and the island community about our effort. We believe that these days, energy conservation and efficiency efforts to reduce the use of electricity must be a top priority, and that such efforts will make alternative energy sources such as wind more viable. The Peaks Island Council has endorsed our project, and we are working cooperatively with the University of Maine, Unity College and the City of Portland to realize our goal.

WHAT?

We hope to erect a 100 foot tall meteorological (“met") tower supported by guy wires anchored into the ground on three sides, making for a triangular footprint that extends 70' from the tower base in each direction. Two small arms will be mounted to the tower at different heights. This way, wind velocities at other heights can also be projected. Two anemometers will be mounted on each arm to measure wind speed, providing redundancy if one of them should fail. A small wind vane will measure wind direction. A thermometer will keep track of the temperature, which could help diagnose low readings possibly caused by icing. Every 10 seconds data will be sent to a small battery operated logger. This data can be downloaded to a computer and analyzed, and if we choose, cell phone technology could possibly be used to display real-time wind data on a website or perhaps at the elementary school.
 

WHERE?

The tower will be located toward the upper back of Trott Littlejohn Park, which is near the center of the Island across Brackett Avenue from the transfer station. Ideally, we would have placed the tower at a higher elevation, but the conservation easements on City owned land west of the park have made this impossible. The park itself is on City owned land without conservation easements and is the site of a community garden project. There is room for both projects without interfering with the recreational trails which run through the park. We chose this site because it is near the middle of the Island and therefore will not impact people’s water views. A future turbine would not have to be located on the same spot. (No decision regarding the location of a turbine has been made.)
 

WHEN?

The permitting process was completed in January of 2010. The University of Maine will hire a contractor to put up the tower, and we hope this will happen by early spring of 2010, weather permitting.  Data will be collected for at least one year, after which it will be analyzed by the University of Maine in order to determine whether the wind blows sufficiently strong enough and often enough to make the financing of a small turbine project possible. Any decision about a turbine project on the island would be made following the analysis, and would probably involve some kind of community wide decision making process. Funding would have to be secured and the level of public support for the project would have to be substantial.
 

WHY?

Electricity generated by fossil fuels pollutes, causing health problems and environmental degradation. As demand for oil increasingly exceeds supply, energy prices will rise and alternative sources will be in demand. Because of carbon dioxide pollution which causes polar ice melting, island communities are vulnerable to sea level rise, which is already happening at an accelerating rate. These and many other concerns related to sustainability are creating a market for alternative energy. Government is providing a variety of incentives in order to encourage its development. The wind is a clean and renewable energy resource. Technology improvements are bringing us quieter and more efficient wind turbines. There is potentially a modest economic benefit to Peaks Island from a community wind project. But in order to be sure a wind turbine is a practical option for Peaks, the wind must be tested first.