TOPIC 'Wind Power' on Mar 27, 2009 (CET)
NASA Looks to Add Wind Power to Wallops Island Facility
In hopes of saving more than a million dollars a year by generating 30 percent of their electricity from wind power, the NASA Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Florida plans to install two 388-foot-tall turbines. NASA would also use the project as a gauge to determine the feasibility of using even more wind power in the future.
The project would come with a price tag of about $3.8 million per turbine, but officials are hoping the Obama Administration will provide funding for one of the turbines within one year, due to the new emphasis on alternate forms of renewable energy. NASA officials estimate it would take around eight years to recover its cost.
One likely holdup could be the wait for the 1.5 megawatt General Electric turbines. Due to overwhelming demand, the company is currently looking at a backlog of over a year for new orders.
NASA officials are hoping to have a study completed by this fall on the environmental impact of the turbines. In addition to the visual impact to the community, the effects on birds and bats are also being studied. In spite of ongoing concerns over wind energy's effect on migratory birds, the Sierra Club found, after a long term study, that the average house cat kills more birds than wind energy facilities.
Because the Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires federal agencies to receive at least five percent of their energy through renewable sources by 2012, officials at the Wallops facility researched a number of renewable resources. They found that neither solar nor geothermal energy would work as efficiently as wind due to the island's high wind rating. The island rated 3 out of a possible 4 on the wind energy scale.
So that they don't interfere with radar operations on the island, the turbines would have to be located where they can be seen from the mainland, but officials believe the benefits derived from the turbines would more than offset any appearance concerns.
Jason Grace
on behalf of the
BascoTec Internet Limited
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33100 Paderborn
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