The Ultimate Power Play

For a few years now, I have been thinking about ways to generate my own electricity for my family's home in Vermont. (Household spats between parents and children generate heat but not much power.) For the last 18 months, I've patiently waited for our local alternative energy company to bring their wind turbine product to market. While they work on perfecting their technology, I've decided to move ahead with a 10 kilowatt Bergey wind turbine.

I spent much of a weekend clearing the site where the turbine will be installed. (There is something cathartic about clearing land. I always experience a degree of physical exhaustion that is uncharacteristic of any other type of exercise.) The next step in the process is securing a permit. Sadly, Vermont has been unwelcoming to wind power. Governments at all levels in the United States need to prove their commitment to curbing dependence on foreign oil by providing support and incentive to homeowners who are willing to make their own investment in renewable energy.

However, Vermont does make it a bit easier to get a residential turbine approved than a commercial installation, and a new law guarantees that any electricity generated by a residential turbine must be purchased by the local utility at $.20 a kilowatt hour. This is called net-metering, and it's a decent deal considering that here in the Green Mountain State we pay between $.10 and $.13 for the energy we purchase. Solar gets an even better deal at $.30 a kilowatt hour.

I'd already made the rounds to talk with my neighbors about the home turbine project, and most of them are pretty enthusiastic. They will have the option of objecting to my permit application, but they all have pledged their support. Now I've got to wait between 30 and 60 days while the town processes the application.

My turbine will cost about $50,000 before rebates and tax credits. There is a cash incentive grant worth $12,500, which lowers the net cost to $37,500; and then a 30% federal tax credit that will further reduce the cost to about $25,000. I expect the turbine will generate at least 8,000 kilowatts a year. If I sell all the energy to the grid, it will generate about $1,600. That means that it will take about 15 years to break even on my investment -- unless the wind blows harder or the tax credits go up! Stay tuned...

Comments

[sc300nc]

Good luck on your wind turbine. Did you monitor your site for wind prior to deciding where to put it? My experience is that most wind generator purchasers are way too optimistic on the amount of generation they expect, and most are extremely disappointed after it is installed. Your 15 year payback is probably more like a 25 year payback, if the generator lasts that long.

The .20 and .30 Vermont is willing to pay for renewable power shows you how far it has to go to be competitive with traditional generation. The gov't realizes this and knows the only way to get renewables on par is to increase the costs of traditional generation, i.e. cap and trade as a beginning.

[classicalgeek]

That's because the fossil fuel industry is already so heavily subsidized by the taxpayers.

[sc300nc]

In what way? At ,20 to .30 cents per kWh?

[Rucio]

Energy Information Administration: Federal Financial Interventions and Subsidies in Energy Markets 2007 -- table 35, page 106:

Wind energy received $23.37 per megawatt-hour of its electricity production in 2007, compared with 44 cents for coal, $1.59 for nuclear, and 25 cents for natural gas.

[Rucio]

What does a wind turbine have to do with "curbing dependence on foreign oil"? Especially in Vermont: hydro, nuclear, or wood chips, maybe, but not oil.

And this potential 1-10,000th of a percent of the state's usage is so important for your fellow citizens to pay you almost twice what they normally pay for electricity? Good for you, maybe, but good for anyone else? It doesn't look like it.

[COPerez]

Any marginal production of pollution/green house gasses benefits everyone around. Just because those "external" costs have never figured into the price before, doesn't mean they aren't real.

[COPerez]

That should read "any marginal reduction in the production..."

[ewoman]

I'm curious! When you go to sell the house (if ever), does the turbine go with it along with the electricity deal?

[octoberxs]

You can look at it this way in 15 years you'll break even vs. the time it will take for me to break even on my electric bills. Which just so happens to be NEVER paying the local utility service. Keep us updated.

[GoldenAgeMaster]

If the winds become erratic it could take a whole lot longer than 15 years.