Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Sister Turbine Comes Down


Sister Turbine Comes Down

News Report

Portsmouth’s broken wind turbine coming down

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (WPRI) — The turbine at Portsmouth High School will be taken down Tuesday.

The town built the turbine in 2009, and it worked very well for about three years. It created more than enough electricity for all of the town’s buildings.

“During that time, the wind turbine, after paying its mortgage and all the operating costs, made the town $400,000,” Town Council Vice President Jim Seveney told Eyewitness News.

Unfortunately, the gear box on the turbine broke, and the company that built it had gone bankrupt. That left the town with a 214-foot broken turbine, and a towering $1.5 million mortgage.

Wind Energy Development, a North Kingstown-based company, has now stepped in to take the mortgage off the hands of Portsmouth’s taxpayers.

“Most of it will be paid off by WED as part of the agreement, and they will take down the existing wind turbine and put up a new one,” Seveney explained.

Portsmouth will still buy the credits for the renewable energy the new turbine will generate, but won’t have to deal with maintenance or that hefty mortgage.

“We will fund it. We will operate it. We will maintain it, and we will supply the town with their power for the next 25 years,” WED owner Mark Depasquale said.

The new turbine is expected to be operational by late spring. It will stand about 65-feet taller, and capture more wind than the current turbine.

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Crews remove 213-foot-tall wind turbine in Portsmouth

After five days of work, crews have finished disassembling a 213-foot-tall wind turbine in Portsmouth.

The turbine, which is located at Portsmouth High School, was built in 2009 but has been idle since 2012 because of a faulty gearbox.

The company that made the turbine and gearbox has since gone bankrupt.
Wind Energy Development of North Kingstown started dismantling the turbine Tuesday and finished on Saturday, according to owner Mark Depasquale.

Along with removing the broken turbine, the company will be building a new 279-foot-tall wind turbine at the school. The new turbine will supply energy for Portsmouth's municipality buildings.
"This new one will last well over 25 years if it's maintained properly," said Depasquale. "We're predicting it's going to produce about 5.4 million kilowatts a year."

For the building rights, the company agreed to pay off Portsmouth's' remaining $1.4 million bond the town took out to build the original turbine. In return, the town has agreed to buy electricity from WED for the next 25 years, at no more than 15.5 cents per kilowatt an hour.


A good deal according to Portsmouth resident Tom Schindler.

"I have a funny feeling energy prices are going nowhere but up," said Schindler. "15.5 cents a kilowatt an hour is going to be a good deal 20 years from now."

Construction is expected to be completed by the end of June. Depasquale said the new technology in the turbine is coming with a 10-year warranty and it will be the company's responsibility to repair any problems.

While most residents NBC10 spoke with on Saturday were happy that Portsmouth remains committed to green energy, some are worried this new turbine could be another let down.

"It's wasted tax dollars when it comes down to it," said John Urban. "It's disappointing when you see something that's supposed to be so cutting edge, so environmentally friendly and so efficient and it works for a handful of months and then it's not working for three years."


2 comments:


  1. By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff |

    Without the revenue from the sale of electricity, the townt is still paying for the turbine. It has two loans to pay for construction of the turbine. Quarterly interest payments of $4,983 are paid toward the $2.6 million Clean Renewable Energy bond. A principal payment of $173,333 is also due Dec. 15 for the bond.

    A $400,000 loan from the state Economic Development Corporation is due a principal payment of $26,380 and interest payment of $3,079 on June 15.

    When running, the wind turbine earned the town about $160,000.

    Removing and replacing the gearbox costs some $780,000. It would likely require the town to maintain ownership of the turbine and make the debt payments.

    Selling the turbine to a developer would likely mean the new owner would make the interest payments, with little to no revenue heading to the town.

    Scrapping the turbine, which Crosby has called the “nuclear option,” would only generate a small, one-time payment from the sale of the scrap metal, and likely leave the town with a large portion of the debt.

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  2. The 1.5-megawatt turbine was commissioned in March 2009. The turbine had a 20-year life expectancy but was shutdown June 18, 2012 after the gearbox showed significant wear. An independent investigation blamed the damage on a faulty gearbox. The gearbox, however, was no longer covered by warranty, and the manufacturer of the turbine, AAER Wind Energy of Quebec, is no longer in business. Three of five turbines of the same make and model erected in California and Templeton, Mass., also suffered gearbox failure.

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