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Community Wind Project
Frequently Asked Questions
COST/FINANCIAL
What does the assessment cost?
What financing is available to help pay for an eventual project?
How will a community wind project get developed and how much will it cost?
What might the financial return of a project be?
SERVICES
What services do you provide?
How is my property evaluated through the application process?
What if I do not get accepted into the program?
Do you develop projects?
After the assessment is complete, what is the next step?
SAFETY
Do the towers affect wildlife?
Will a tower hurt my farm animals?
What if the towers get struck by lightning?
EQUIPMENT/DATA
How long is the tower left standing?
What will the collected data be able to tell me?
How strong does my wind have to be?
Why do the towers measure temperature?
OTHER
How soon can a project be developed on my land?
If a wind project is developed on my land, how long will it be there?
Answers
COSTS/FINANCIAL
What does the assessment cost?
In order to allow a greater number of people to benefit, there is currently no application or site assessment fee to participate in the Community Wind Project. If your site is selected as eligible you will have to sign a Participation Agreement a part of which guarantees that if a wind energy project is developed the Renewable Energy Center is reimbursed for the value it has added to the project at a flat rate of $30,000. The reimbursement payment is a way for the program to continue its ability to help others assess their wind resource and develop community wind projects without relying solely on government and foundation grants. Being 100% dependent on grant funds is no way to ensure our long-term ability to provide this service, so the reimbursement is part - a small part actually - of how we aim to become financial sustainable over time.
Why $30,000?
The met tower system costs about $14,000 dollars and we pay professionals to install, maintain and remove it which costs an additional $8,000. When you add in the cost of the data validation, analysis and management, final site report preparation, project development consulting and other services, the $30,000 mark is reached pretty quickly.
What financing is available to help pay for an eventual project?
There are many sources of possible funding to help develop a wind energy project. You can use conventional sources such as banks and you can contact these organizations:
Sustainable Energy Funds
Department of Environmental Protection
Department of Community and Economic Development
US Department of Agriculture
Keystone Home Energy Loan Program
For a full list of funding sources, go to www.dsireusa.org which lists them by state.
How will a community wind project get developed and how much will it cost?
Cost depends on a lot of factors but $2 - 2.5 million per megawatt installed is a safe assumption. That's an installed cost. Just for a turbine and tower, you are looking at $1.5 million dollars per megawatt. But then you have site development, freight, FAA lights, foundations, cranes, electrical systems, etc. How much of this comes from you depends on how you choose to finance, develop, and set up the ownership of the project. We can help. What follows is a sample of ways community wind projects are financed and developed, for more detailed analysis please visit the resources at our Community Wind page.
Public Entities and Non-Profits: these organizations, such as government agencies, municipal utilities, and colleges, cannot take advantage of wind energy's Production Tax Credit (PTC) ( ?)or Accelerated Depreciation but they do have access to lower-cost financing and typically have a tolerance for lower returns on investment.
Multiple Local Investors: local landowners partner with investors to form a Project LLC, Cooperative or Partnership that owns and operates the project. Investors must be carefully selected so that the PTC and Accelerated Depreciation can be fully taken advantage of without any negative legal implications.
Minnesota "Flip" Structure: local landowner-investor finds a tax investor who can use the PTC, which lasts for the first 10 years of a project, to own most of the windfarm and then "flip" the project to local ownership in year 11. This structure has been made popular in Minnesota.
What might the financial return of a project be?
Financial costs and returns are very difficult to estimate without wind data, turbine specifications, interconnectino information, cost of capital, electricity sale price and many other factors. However, the Center has used existing models and assumptions from industry experts to provide simplified estimates for educational purposes only. Let's suppose a 1- megawatt wind turbine that generates energy for on-site energy use (in which the customer receives retail price for the electricity) or for sale to the wholesale market (for which the customer gets a negotiated wholesale price). A client that could benefit from an on-site energy use scenario would be any large energy user such as a school, prison, or water treatment facility. These figures don’t include taking advantage of the federal Production Tax Credit or other state and federal incentives. For more on costs and returns go to our Wind Energy Estimator Series.
| Project Specifications |
|
| Project Size |
1 megawatt |
| Number of U.S. homes equivalent amount of electricity |
3001 |
| Installed Cost |
$2 - 2.5 million2 |
| Yearly revenue (on-site use) |
$208,080 |
| Yearly revenue (wholesale) |
$143,055 |
| Payback Period |
12- 15+ yrs
|
| Assumptions |
|
Capacity Factor (?)
|
30% |
Power Purchase Price (wholesale)
|
$0.06 |
Retail Price (on-site use)
|
$0.08 |
1 Assumes average home uses 8,000 – 10,000 kwh
2 Figure comes from discussions with active wind developers in Pennsylvania
Six such projects would yield the following aggregated returns:
Enough electricity to power 1,800 average U.S. homes
Increase the revenue of project clients by $800,000 - $1.2 million dollars
Over 10 years, that’s over $20 million in capital investment and over $20.8 million in increased revenues.
SERVICES
What services do you provide?
The Community Wind Project provides wind assessment, environmental risk assessment, financial analysis, and project development consulting services.
How is my property evaluated through the application process?
First, your property was located on a topographic mapping system and to determine elevation and other characteristics. Second, your property was analyzed using our in-house GIS mapping system to determine in which class wind area your property is located. What is a wind class? The state of Pennsylvania has been mapped and classified, using meteorological data, into wind resource classes 1-6. The larger the number, the greater the estimated wind resource at the height of 50 meters (165 feet). Wind Class 3 and above are considered potentially viable wind energy development areas. McLean Energy Partners looked at your site using the following criteria:
• The elevation of your proposed site.
• The elevation of your site with respect to the surrounding areas.
• The wind class area in which your site is located and it’s proximity to higher or lower wind class areas.
• The location of the nearest transmission or distribution line of the utility servicing the area in which your property is located.
• Current and proposed land use at your site and any indication of surrounding land uses that might not be compatible (e.g., proximity to housing development, airports, parks, refuges and public recreation areas) and could create conflict in the community
• The size of your parcel and when available, the size of adjacent properties.
What if I do not get accepted into the program?
Then we talk with you about your interests and goals to see if we can assist you in another way. Community wind is just one of the many "tools in the toolbox" and if one doesn't work you just put it back and pick up another one. For example, if you have running water on your property, hydro may be a very cost-effective solution. We have created the Pennsylvania Renewable Energy Directory to give people, businesses and communities a range of choices.
Do you develop projects?
No, we don't develop projects but we connect you with a qualified list of developers.
After the assessment is complete, what is the next step?
We write you a report that summarizes our wind, environmental and financial assessment. We review this report with you and go over your options for moving forward.
SAFETY
Do the towers affect wildlife?
We have never had any wildlife injured by one of our met towers. Any negative affects would be minimal.
Will the tower hurt my farm animals?
The met tower is held aloft by guy wires that go out from the 164 foot tower in four directions. These guy wires don't hurt farm animals but farm animals have been known to rub up against them which can cause problems for the tower. On occassion the landowner has needed to fence in the tower and guy wires. For the exact footprint of the met tower system, go to our met tower equipment page.
What if the towers get struck by lightning?
Meteorological towers (METs) have been known to be stuck by lightning on rare occasions. Since the creation of the Community Wind Project in 2005, there has only been one recorded instance of a direct lightning strike on one of our towers. Lightning strikes can destroy hardware and cause data loss. However, precautionary measures are taken to avoid the event altogether. MET towers are equipped with grounding kits to discharge the buildup of static electricity that accumulates in the tower, greatly reducing the potential for a direct lightning strike.
EQUIPMENT/DATA
How long is the tower left standing?
At least 6 months though 12 months is most common and we reserve the right to keep the tower up for 24 months if necessary. This is all dependent on the wind resource and if and how an eventual project will be developed. Our goal is to assess the wind for 12 months, verify the resource and then bring in a developer who will likely install their own met tower for further testing. Wind energy development typically needs at least 2 years of data and the Renewable Energy Center takes care of the first year.
What will the collected data be able to tell me?
If your site is selected as eligible and receives a meteorological tower, you will receive monthly reports telling you the the speed and direction of the wind resource at your property. In the end, the collected data will tell you if wind energy is worth your while or not.
How strong does my wind have to be?
Wind developers in Pennsylvania look for at least 15 miles per hour mean average wind speed over a 1 + year period. People tell us their wind is strong enough to dry their laundry in 5 minutes, blow down brick walls, and make kites out of chickens but we usually find that land above 1,800 feet in elevation, and preferably above 2,000 feet, is best for profitable wind energy development.
Why do the towers measure temperature?
In order to detect icing of the anemometers. If the anemometer produces irregular data and we can see that at the same time the temperature outside was 22 degrees Fahrenheit, icing was the likely problem. We can then choose to eliminate the irregular data from our analysis.
GENERAL
How soon can a project be developed on my land?
Lead times for wind energy projects, that is the time that it takes from assessment to wind turbines in the ground, is typically 5 - 6 years. At least 2 years of wind data is needed in addition to permits, interconnection studies, lining up the financing, contracts with turbine manufacturers, and contracts with construction and maintenance companies.
If a wind project is developed on my land, how long will it be there?
Wind turbines last around 20 years but your project could be there even longer. Wind turbines have dropped 80 percent in costs over the last 20 years and that trend is likely to continue. Therefore, there is the likelihood of replacing older turbines with more advanced models in the future. Lastly, a wind turbine is like a car: how long it lasts depends on how well you take care of it (or how well someone is paid to take care of it). Quality maintenance matters.
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