Harrison Roper's Blog (87)

  The term "installed capacity" refers to the amount of power an industrial wind facility would produce under ideal wind conditions; but such ideal wind conditions rarely (if ever) occur.    

  Wind Farm Proposal and Permits usually refer to the ratio of actual power to be produced compared to this production ideal as "an expected capacity…

September's power production from the UMPI turbine was unsurprisingly low: it averaged 1190 kWh per day, Capacity Factor .082.  The solar array generated 60 kWh per day.

Harrison Roper  Houlton/Danforth

According to its public website, the UMPI turbine generated 63873 kWh in June, July, and August 2013. Its installed capacity is 600 kilowatts, or 14,400 kWh per day;  it actually  averaged only 701.9 kWh per day, a Capacity Factor .051. This is 1/20 of its installed capacity, or 1 hour and 10 minutes of good wind per day.

   If your mind shuts down in such a blizzard of figures, you are at the mercy of the wind promoters. You…

  The UMPI turbine had pretty poor wind for the first ten days of June. It generated just 11,621 kWh. If there was a perfect wind, if would generate 14,400 kWh in just one day (600 kW X 24  hrs)!

  But the wind lately has been far from perfect; in fact, the UMPI turbine actually consumed grid power on June 7 (-10 kWh) and June 9  (-8 kWh).     …

The Governor is right, and Brad Blake is right.  Maine does not need wind power, and never did. Kudos to our Governor for recognizing this. The existing wind farms' 2013 power production was a mere 24.72% of capacity. It's not worth it.

Harrison Roper  Houlton/Danforth       

The UMPI turbine is working again (according to its website) after about 2.5 days of non-reporting.  During that time it generated about 800 kWh of power.  At 6:00 pm  2/15 it is in the middle of a snow squall, according to the live webcam.

Harry Roper  Houlton/Danforth

Facts about wind turbines' actual power production are difficult to find, but University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI) is the exception.

Accompanied by much publicity, in May 2009 UMPI purchased and erected a 600 kW Bergey turbine rignt on the campus. It  came on line in July 2009 with promises to make information available to the public through a website, using a new "first of its kind" reporting program. The program took…

While the  UMPI turbine "live wind data" website was down 1/19-1/22 the turbine itself apparently kept working, at a Capacity Factor  .188.

Harry Roper  Houlton/Danforth

The UMPI turbine has racked up 11,243 kWh in the past ten days, an average of 1,124.3 kWh per day. Installed capacity is 14,400 kWh per day; Capacity Factor was .078.

The UMPI turbine website now has a webcam which shows the actual turbine, with a  new image about 45 times a minute.   So, if you are wondering if it is turning, you can look and see.  It is barely visible at night, but very clear in the day time. Google "UMPI Turbine" and click on the new little box on the home page. Thank you UMPI.  Standard working speed of the blades is 28.5 rpm.

H. Roper

Capacity Factor (CF) is a standard and meaningful way of measuring a generator's actual power production over a period of time.   The UMPI wind turbine has an installed capacity of 600 kW, which means in a full day with perfect wind it will generate 14,4OO kWh. 

   Northern Maine has just experienced a notably calm 10-day period, November 14-23,  and the UMPI turbine website reports net power…

If you use download Google Chrome to look at the UMPI turbine website, you will see the wind speed, rotor rpm, and generator rpm data changing every ten seconds. The wind is very changeable.

Harry Roper  Houlton/Danforth

Three years ago  UMPI promised the public a turbine website that would report its output in ten-second intervals.  Today I noticed (for the first time) that the software for that function is ACTUALLY WORKING!

For five minutes, at 10;25 am today (11/12/12)  I watched wind speed and power changing  every ten seconds, and I wrote the changes down as fast as I could: (wind speed in mph/power produced in kW) 12mph/86kW; 14/117; 12/69; 12/72; 11/91; 13/91....... I think that represents one…

After a few hours of non-operation, the UMPI turbine is producing power again! In a 14.3 mph wind it is producing 307 kW, a bit more than half of its installed capacity. The next couple of days should be good for wind power, if it keeps working; a hurricane will be passing by.  In the past 32 hours it  generated about 6500 kWh; this is about 203 kwh per hour, or a .33 Capacity Factor. I will try to remember to report the post-hurricane capacity factor in a couple of…

Not surprisingly, the UMPI turbine site indicates nothing but zeroes this morning, October  30th.  I presume this is superstorm Sandy's doing; high wind events have frequently preceeded this turbine's breakdowns.

Harry Roper   Houlton/Danforth

After 17 days if non-operation the UMPI turbine site reports it is working again!  At 5;30 PM in an 11 mph wind it is generating 43.9 kW.  During the 17 no-operating days it consumed 41 kWh of grid power, an average of 3 kWh per day. 

Harry Roper  - Houlton/Danforth

After many months the UMPI website is declaring:

             "Repairs are complete and the wind turbine is once again

              spinning.  In addition the data gathering system for the 

              turbine has been restored and the live wind data is currently 

    …

The UMPI turbine seems to be working! At 4:00 pm today (9/26/12) the website reports rotor rpm at 18.1; generator rpm 28.6; power 354KW, and a 30-hour net gain of about 4500 KWH.  This is the largest net gain reported in months. The turbine's installed capacity is 600 KW, or 600X24H=14,400 KWH per day.  That's a Capacity Factor of .25 .

Harry Roper  Houlton/Danforth   

The UMPI turbine is continuing its partial data reporting.  The wind speed seems to vary, and the rotor and generator rpm vary also, but the power being produced has been a steady minus figure for five days, usually 

- 0.1 KW. I check this daily. 

  Net power produced has dropped about 38 kwh in that time. "Power" reported was 25,122 KWH Sept. 19;…

9/21/12 - UMPI turbine website reports it is ACTUALLY WORKIN , after 180 days.

As of 1:30 PM today, the "live turbine data" web page reports: wind at 7.6 mph, blade pitch at 2 degrees, rotor at 28.8 rpm, 25,000 kwh produced, generator temperature 21 C, power producrion minus 0.1kw, 412 Volts. The bar chart is unchanged and (not labled) it is about 17 months old. The power produced is a puzzle, since it gives no dates. The cute…