Green facility gets greener with windmill

PALMER — Each time the wind has blown during the last three months has meant a little extra something for the recycling center.

In October, the center’s windmill went live. It’s a heavy-duty model, able to generate power in up to 100 mph winds.

Added to the 24 solar panels the center also sports, it’s done a lot of things for the recycling center.

Mollie Boyer, executive director of Valley Community for Recycling Solutions, said that in addition to offsetting the center’s energy costs, power generated when the facility is closed is feeding back into the system.

“It offsets some of what (Matanuska Electric Association) has to use to generate electricity,” she said.

It’s also a teaching tool.

“It fits in really well with the college’s new program in renewable energy,” she said.

The college, she said, has already been to the center to use the classroom there to learn about the facility, which in addition to solar and wind power was built as one of the most energy-efficient and sustainable buildings in the Mat-Su Borough and possibly the state.

Boyer said the generator and solar cells were installed by Ahtna Engineering and paid for through a grant from Wal-Mart.

“They’ve been really generous in supporting our renewable energy program,” Boyer said.

And, if you want to get your own sense for what it’s meant for the recycling center, all of the data from the wind generator and the solar panels is available at sunnyportal.com by clicking on “Publicly Available Plants” and enter VCRS plus the center’s zip code, 99645.

Boyer said that’s useful for those classes in renewable energy, and also for research. Having that kind of data on hand can be valuable to researchers trying to compare how technologies work in different latitudes or climates.

Also available at Sunnyportal is data from the anemometer. So, if you’re ever wondered just how fast wind is blowing at the landfill, the recycling center’s got you covered. Though, Boyer points out, it’s not quite real-time data.

“The data warehouse for the website is actually in Germany, so it has to go there and back,” she said.

She said that eventually the plan is to construct a battery bank at the facility, which could store energy from the panels and windmill. Then, she said, the recycling center could serve as an emergency shelter for the borough, with the battery banks playing the role generators do for other shelters.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.