Wind power — let’s take a look at it

Electricity. We all use it. Sometimes we take it for granted. Yet virtually all nations on the earth rely on it. It is the basic building block of modern society. Without it, we stand to lose a great deal. Our whole civilization would collapse.

Think about that for a spell. From lighting, heating, cooking to manufacturing goods and services, even writing this article on my computer and printing it in a newspaper, requires electricity.

This Valley alone is growing by leaps and bounds . That growth has a great demand for electricity. At our current rates of consumption and available natural gas supplies, that supply is going to fall short of the demand. So, what to do about it?

There are a variety of solutions, a lot of them very good ideas. I feel not one alone will solve it. It seems to me a better approach to take a few power projects and combine them in order to meet the needs of this Valley, and even more to this state. I’m not talking about small power generation. We need large, commercial-grade ideas and means to generate electricity.

Let’s take a look at wind power generation. Let’s keep it local, too. There is a place that will produce electricity on a commercial level by wind power. That place is Fire Island, in Cook Inlet about three miles west of Anchorage.

When I first saw the wind generators to be used there on the TV, I thought to myself, “jeepers, these things are huge.” No doubt about that. They are huge. Just one tower is 262 feet tall. One blade of a three-bladed hub design is 148 feet long. Each generator will produce 1.6 megawatts of electricity. So far, 11 of these are built and producing 17.6 MW. When all 33 are in place, they will put out nearly 52.8 MW of power. All that will keep many homes and businesses in Anchorage warm and cozy — all powered by the wind; clean energy.

Now then, are there drawbacks to wind power? The answer is yes. The main one is the wind itself. Let’s face it, we do not control the wind. It does its own thing by its rules. We just have to deal with the vagrancies of it. There are limits as to how much wind we can use. The turbines have to be shut down during high wind events for safety reasons. If it is to low, then they won’t be have enough power to start up.

On small-scale turbines, power is stored in batteries (there is a great deal of research on making the battery problem of small-scale turbines better, cheaper and smaller). That is not the case in large-scale wind turbines, nor any other large-scale power generation. Once produced, it is used. So a backup means is needed. We can back it up with conventional means of power generation on those off days.

Some people feel the sight of large wind turbine towers are a blight on the landscape. Maybe so, but they’re far less unsightly than huge coal plants pumping out clouds of dust and steam into the air as it is burned. If the Valley does decide to take on wind power for its power needs, this may become an issue, because some our best places for these things is going to be up in the hills, ridges and mountains that surround us.

It could affect migratory birds. Some wind farms have had problems with birds striking the spinning blades. One solution was a redesign of the blades, which seemed to work. So the location of towers is critical to alleviate this issue.

Then there is the cost; wind turbines are not cheap. But there are government subsides, tax breaks and long-term costs that could help make this a reality. These are just some of disadvantages to wind power generation.

I feel the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The biggest one is jobs — jobs from shipping them here or manufacturing them locally, jobs installing them, jobs maintaining them and jobs building the infrastructure to support them and to get power into our homes and businesses. That infrastructure must be built from scratch. Alaska is still a young state and lacks much of the infrastructure that the Lower 48 already has.

While the Susitna hydroelectric dam project may be a good idea, I seriously doubt it will ever happen due to the many issues it raises and the opposition to it. It remains just talk that will be just that for years to come. Wind power is cleaner, cheaper and far less threatening to the environment than a large dam project.

I feel this is a good way to go to address some of the Valley’s future power needs, and it should get more than a serious looking over. It should be acted on immediately. The need for clean energy is great. We must wean ourselves off fossil fuels if we are ever to gain true energy independence from countries that hate us. It is getting more costly and dangerous to extract fossil fuels from the earth. And while fossil fuels are finite, there is no limit to the power of the wind, only in our ability to harness it.

It is a worthy challenge for all of Alaska to strive for. It’s a challenge we have the resources and intelligence to make a reality.

Wasilla resident Daniel D. Grota retired from the U.S. Army after more than 21 years of service.