FAA taps West River Electric Association for experimental wind project
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The FAA constructed a 20 kW wind turbine generator to supply power to the Rapid City, S.D. remote center air/ground communications facility. The project will save the facility about $1,200 in annual power costs.
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West River Electric Association threw the switch on the Rapid City, S.D., remote center air/ground communications facility on Nov. 6, 2002, making it the Federal Aviation Administration's first wind-powered remote communication facility in the lower 48 states.
The new wind generator provides clean, renewable energy to meet the power needs of the facility. WREA will supply whatever additional power the facility requires and buy back surplus energy.
Project reduces energy use at Federal facility
The FAA built the turbine to comply with Executive Order 13123, Section 204. The order encourages Federal agencies to expand the use of renewable energy by implementing renewable energy sources at their facilities.
The project is estimated to reduce the facility's annual energy cost by more than $1,200. "Cost savings were a big consideration in the choice of a navigational aid station for the test site," said Donald Marlette, an FAA engineering technician. "They are very high use facilities."
Funding for the turbine came from the FAA and the U.S. Department of Energy through a grant to help Federal agencies comply with the goals of the Federal Energy Management Program.
WREA gets big return for small power investment
Located on a ridge overlooking Ellsworth Air Force Base, the turbine is a 20-kW unit with 15-foot blades. It's fitted with a "double throw" switch to prevent the generator from feeding back onto WREA's system, and a bi-directional meter to monitor the power that the facility produces and uses.
In its first month of operation, the remote site required 240 kWh from WREA to start up the generator, run the climate control and power the equipment that relays radio communications from in-route aircraft through phone lines. It generated 1,580 kWh to push back to the utility.
WREA has not yet determined a rate for purchasing wind power from the FAA. "At this stage, it's still only an experiment," said Rod Gunn, operations manager at WREA's Rapid City office. "We're still working with the FAA to collect data on the unit's performance and production."
Extensive research leads FAA to Rapid City, S.D.
The turbine's location should maximize both factors. The FAA spent a year searching for a test facility. The site required a sustained wind level of 5 to 12 knots to ensure reliable and consistent generation, as well as room to build the turbine. That put a high-density city like Chicago, "the windy city," out of the running, but made the wind-swept prairies of South Dakota ideal.
The owner of the land the Rapid City facility occupies agreed to expand the FAA's lease to allow construction of the turbine. "It only requires a small amount of space," said FAA Air Transportation Systems Specialist Scott Nash. "Low impact is one of the big advantages of wind power.
"The facility itself was an important part of the equation, too," said Nash. "A lot of other FAA facilities wanted the project because they thought the wind unit could solve their generation problems," he recalled.
"A 20-kW turbine is not going to make that big a difference. We were looking for the best case scenario where everybody involved would win," Nash added.
For WREA, the scenario offered a new marketing opportunity. "We saw the proposed unit as a great demonstration for promoting wind power to our customers," said Gunn.
Partnering is good business
Consulting with the utility, FAA engineers determined that the site's load was appropriate for a small wind generator. The fact that WREA's service form was compatible with the unit helped the FAA to contain equipment and installation costs. "West River has been very user-friendly," Nash noted.
Although the wind-powered communications facility is still considered experimental, the FAA is looking at converting other navigational facilities to operate on renewable energy. "We might do solar panels or fuel cells, or possibly another wind project in 2003," Marlette stated. "Energy-efficient technology can save the taxpayer money and in some cases, even make our operations more reliable. Putting it into use wherever we can is simply good management."
