PPH - Is small-scale wind power Maine’s next big thing?

Energy and agricultural officials, developers and others met in Freeport to begin looking at how Maine can establish small wind projects, comparable to rooftop solar panels.

August 24, 2024

Stephen Singer

Press Herald

EXCERPTS

Maine is taking a first step to establish small-scale wind power as another tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Distributed energy, or on-site, decentralized power generation, accounts for several thousand solar projects in Maine – such as panels on rooftops and in yards. Not so for distributed wind energy projects, which, at 80 to 150 feet in height, are roughly one-third the size of industrial-scale wind projects......................

...............“The simplest model is selling to a farm or a business,” said Josh Groleau, chief executive officer of Pecos Wind Power, an early-stage wind turbine manufacturer developing an 85-kilowatt distributed wind turbine.

He received a $152,000 federal agricultural grant last year to help Maine farmers and rural small businesses that want to use distributed wind power apply for federal grants. He’ll assess the feasibility of potential projects, prepare technical reports and permitting, and plan construction and other details. Studies will help determine if farms can reduce the cost of electricity with onsite wind power.............................

“We can hopefully keep them farming,” Groleau said. “We think there’s pretty good alignment.”

..............“The primary market is rural farms of all types and rural small businesses,” said Bergey, president of a wind power manufacturer in Norman, Oklahoma.

A wind power system, which he said can cost $50,000 to a couple of hundred thousand dollars to set up, uses less space than solar arrays and helps farmers avoid taking land out of production. Distributive wind systems of up to 1 megawatt are “really growing,” Bergey said.........................................

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.................Small wind turbines have capacities of up to 100 kW, midsized wind turbines are between 101 kW and 1 MW and large wind turbines have a capacity of greater than 1 MW, according to the Department of Energy...................

..............The Inflation Reduction Act, the federal law signed by President Biden two years ago that provides hundreds of billions of dollars for clean energy projects, includes a tax credit of up to 30% for wind energy projects. It also provides $2 billion for grants and loans to farmers and rural small businesses to install clean energy projects, including distributed wind........................

https://www.pressherald.com/2024/08/24/is-small-scale-wind-power-ma...

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