Big Plans for Small Wind
Bismark Tribune | By Christopher Bjorke, Photo by Mike McClearly | December 27, 2009
Wind power has been adding to North Dakota’s power generation capacity in multi-megawatt surges as turbine towers spring up across the landscape.
But apart from major wind farms, individuals can pull a couple of kilowatts from the air on a smaller scale with “small wind,” a niche power source that grew by 78 percent in the United States last year, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
“I think it’s a coming thing. We all know that electricity bills are going up,” said Art Mariner, who has been selling small wind power units at his GR-8 Country Wind Power business for about a year and a half. He said he installs an $18,000 to $19,000 tower and turbine unit about every two months, and expects to sell more in the spring.
Most of his customers live on farms and ranches, but he also installed a turbine at Bismarck State College this summer.
“It won’t totally cut out your bill. No matter how big the turbine is, the wind doesn’t always blow,” Mariner said. But with power generation capacities around 2.4 kilowatts an hour, it will take out a chunk of electricity expenses.
Government tax incentives also will take out a chunk of an investment in small wind. The federal government provides a tax credit for 30 percent of the cost, up to $4,000. North Dakota income tax offered credit for wind power installation until the ND-2 individual tax form was phased out this year, but it still offers an incentive for business filers. Property owners in the state can get a five-year exemption for the value of a wind tower on tax assessments, according to Deputy Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger.
Mariner, who also owns a construction company, said he became interested in wind power not so much out of an interest in green power, but in part because wind towers have become such common sights on the North Dakota horizon. He believes the same thing is driving customer interest.
“Sure it has a lot to do with it. People are thinking green. It’s all over,” he said. “I didn’t know nothing about turbines” until he started selling them.
Kay Fried and her husband Marv installed a turbine on their ranch north of Bismarck this past summer. She said she has had a fascination with wind turbines, and she considers wind “a better form of energy.”
“It’s not that we are big green people, because we’re not,” she said. The turbine on the Frieds’ ranch has drawn curious questions from neighbors. “It’s become a landmark.”
Marv Fried said that the turbine provides about 300 kilowatts a month, about a third of their electricity. The unit creates “a little bitty whine” but is quieter than the nearby road or the jets that fly overhead, he said.
“Basically, it’s a free source of energy” after purchase and installation costs, he said. “The wind is there, and you might as well use it.”
Bismarck’s Planning and Zoning Commission has received enough inquiries on small wind to draft an ordinance setting out requirements for turbine construction in the city. Height and lot-size requirements prevent construction on most residential lots in the city, but some of the rural subdivisions would allow towers.
Mariner sells products from five companies. Generation capacity for the models he sells are mostly around 2 kilowatts and towers vary from 33 to 45 feet, he said. Not everyone will get the same results with their turbines, he said, and generation depends a lot on location. Homes can draw power from a turbine while the wind is blowing and switch to the regular energy grid when it is calm. If a turbine generates more power than a home can use, the excess is put back on the grid, and utility companies reimburse owners for the added electricity, Mariner said.
So far, he has been promoting the business, which employs two people other than him, at events like the North Dakota State Fair and the Great Plains Energy Expo in Bismarck in November, where he said oil billionaire Harold Hamm inquired about using portable turbines to power his oil wells in the Bakken Formation.
If coal-generated electricity, which provides 95 percent of the state’s power, becomes more expensive due to new regulations on fossil fuels, Mariner expects demand for his turbines to surge, along with other forms of renewable energy.
“I plan on getting more involved in solar in the coming year,” he said.
(Reach Christopher Bjorke at 250-8261 or chris.bjorke@bismarcktribune.
http://www.bismarcktribune.
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