Powered up on McMillan Mesa
Arizona Daily Sun
July 3, 2008
www.azdailysun.com
By J. Ferguson
The city of Flagstaff is installing its first wind turbines at the new business incubator.
The latest tenant for Flagstaff's business incubator project is relatively quiet and solitary, but somewhat hard to miss -- it stands more than 30 feet tall. The city has purchased two Skystream wind generators from Southwest Windpower for the Northern Arizona Science, Technology & Clean Energy Center atop McMillan Mesa at a total cost of $12,500 for two. The 33-foot-tall wind turbines were installed Wednesday.
The city paid for the wind generators out of the incubator's $3.6 million capital budget
City officials are hoping to reduce the cost of the locally built generators by nearly two-thirds with rebates designed to spur the use of renewable energy.
"We are looking into a rebate from APS," said Becky Daggett, the city's Business Retention and Expansion Manager. "We are estimating that rebate could be worth $4,500 per generating unit."
Part of the cost will also be recouped on the power generated from the twin generators. The Skystream generates between 30 percent and 80 percent of the power required by a typical home, but it is unclear how much the generators will offset the incubator's power bills.
Daggett was reluctant to offer an estimate, noting it would depend on energy usage by the tenants of the 10,000-square-foot building and how much energy the Skystreams will generate. The average household in America consumes 888 kilowatt hours per month, according to the Department of Energy, while a Skystream is estimated to generate, on average, 800 kwh per month.
No estimate exists for the power consumption at the incubator.
But despite the increasing demand for alternative energy, it is unlikely wind turbines will start sprouting up in Flagstaff neighborhoods.
Currently, the incubator is one of only a few places in town with the 33-foot tall wind turbines as the city's 30-foot height limit for structures in residential zones makes them impractical.
Andy Kruse, one of Southwest Windpower's co-founders, said he is working to lobby the city council to increase height limits.
"You need to get them above the trees to work properly," he said.
Coconino County allows for the residential turbines, but only on 1-acre or larger lots in unincorporated areas.
INNOVATION ON DISPLAY
City leaders hail the pairing of the world's largest manufacturer of small wind turbines -- Southwest Windpower -- with NASTCEC.
"The City of Flagstaff is proud to partner with one of Flagstaff's premiere companies to power the Science, Technology & Clean Energy Center," said Flagstaff City Manager Kevin Burke.
"Their innovation will now be a part of helping other entrepreneurs to create and grow their own companies."
One of the city's better-known entrepreneurs, a co-founder of Southwest Windpower, agrees.
"Technology and the entrepreneurial spirit are the foundation of our company," said Southwest Windpower President David Calley, noting that he started the company in a garage 21 years ago. "It is very exciting to see the realization of our vision right here in our community."
Tucked away from Cedar Avenue, the generators are in a spot designed to blend in with the incubator and not mar the view of the Peaks. The generators will go in a parking lot where two light stands were expected to go but were nixed out of concerns the parking lot would be too bright.
"They are in the back of a parking lot, out of view," Daggett said.
The windmills may be even harder to see in the near future, as the city ramps up to build the Flagstaff Science & Technology Park next year. The Park could include a two-story building that would effectively hide the generators but not prevent them from generating power.
"It is an option," Daggett said of the second story.
The incubator is scheduled to open this fall. |
