Within the past few years, we’ve all received a few shocks concerning energy prices. But few of us have experienced the shock felt by many Vinalhaven residents in 2006 when their electric bills went up by $100 to $300.
Not surprisingly, the rate increase caused great concern on the island — especially because the cost could not be attributed to a single “correctable” factor. In addition to the high energy market, the Fox Islands Electric Co-op (FIEC), a cooperative that distributes power to residents on Vinalhaven and North Haven, had borrowed $4.14 million to replace the cable running from the mainland. In addition, there is still debt to be paid on the now-replaced cables and deferred expenses for their repairs prior to that replacement.
Hurricane Katrina caused major effects on the price of natural gas, which in turn meant higher prices for electricity suppliers with whom Vinalhaven did business. The FIEC renegotiated its contracts with suppliers in February-March 2006. The costs that were passed to consumers added another hurdle to island living.
“It’s a sustainability issue,” said Addison Ames of the FIEC. “For the working class people, or people on a fixed or small income, these costs are not affordable. We don’t want it to be a place that only those with means can afford to live.”
There is currently no incentive to conserve energy, as one household reducing its energy consumption, or more people going off the grid means fewer people paying down the debt. And rates will continue to rise.
Ames said, “it’s just another nail in the coffin,” noting that residents were receiving “multiple hits” from the higher energy rates: the town’s water and sewer district raised rates; the school has had to increase its budget for heating and small mom and pop stores are reporting energy costs of $10,000 a month.
Ed Schwabe from Swan’s Island Electric Cooperative (SIEC) shares Ames’s concerns. Swan’s Island currently has some of the highest electrical costs in the nation and the cost of raw power has doubled since 1998.
While Swan’s residents have not shared the sudden, sharp increase experienced by residents of Vinalhaven, the trends towards higher energy costs are clear.
Responding to the energy sustainability and anticipating that costs are only going to continue rising, both the Swan’s Island and Fox Islands co-ops have begun looking towards energy production from a source that is in abundance on the islands: wind.
Benefits
Aside from its environmental benefits as a clean and renewable energy source, wind power also presents numerous economic benefits to the islands. Certainly, as anybody who has spent much time on the islands or waters of Maine recognizes, wind is readily available. In initial studies, Swan’s Island has calculated their wind supply at 6.5 – 8.3 meters/second. Vinalhaven has similar winds but with less velocity. Both sources could support substantial wind projects with wind supply peaking during the winter months.
The small population size of the islands is also beneficial. Vinalhaven, the most populated island with a year-round population of around 1,200 residents, purchased 10.8 MW of electricity in 2006. Swan’s uses 3MW. This low demand means the islands have the opposite peak energy demands than the mainland. Island energy demand peaks during the summer due to the influx of seasonal residents, while mainland energy demands peak in the cold months of the winter. Therefore, an island that could produce all of its energy needs during the summer would have a surplus of energy that could be sold to mainland utilities during their energy demand peak in the winter.
George Baker, a professor at Harvard Business School and member of the SIEC board, has done preliminary calculations using 2006 wind data and energy requirements from Swan’s Island. These indicate that with only one turbine, SIEC would save an estimated $200,000 annually by providing 80 percent of the island’s own needs in the winter and one-third of its needs in the summer. With as few as two turbines, Swan’s Island could supply its own energy needs in the winter and over 50 percent of its needs in the summer, at an estimated savings approaching $300,000 annually. Swan’s could also sell power to mainland utilities.
People have recognized the islands’ wind power capability for years. But recently, advances in wind technology, political will, and economic and social incentives have combined to encourage the development of alternative energy sources.
“Wind power is a really exciting proposal for the islands,” said Rob Snyder, Vice President of Programs at the Island Institute. “Wind is essentially a raw material that the islands have in abundance. As opposed to most things that are produced and sold on the mainland and then distributed to the islands, wind power can be produced and sold on-island and then distributed to the mainland.”
Island Challenges
Both Swan’s and Vinalhaven have been exploring wind options, but the process has run into financial, logistical and political problems.
High initial investments for siting and environmental impact studies, completing the permitting process, purchasing equipment and assembling infrastructure present obstacles for the co-ops. With only an anticipated four or five turbines per island, the individual electric co-ops have little purchasing power to negotiate equipment prices, and the Fox Island Electric Co-op has little financial leverage due to the debt accrued from its cable replacement. Furthermore, customers are already suffering from high bills, and passing the initial start-up costs to consumers is not ideal when the economic benefits may not be immediately realized.
“There is a five-year window,” said Ames. “These five years are critical in terms of the sustainability of the Vinalhaven community. If nothing happens, the cost of electricity may not be as big an issue for people living on Vinalhaven five years from now.”
Private developers, possessing greater capital funds, have been to the islands in order to look at sites for wind turbines. However, private investors required larger-scale developments to give the project the desired 30 percent profit margin, suggesting a minimum of 30-40 turbines on both North Haven and Vinalhaven and 12 turbines on Swan’s — numbers that are unpalatable to the respective communities.
And there are the logistical issues. Hundred-foot-long blades will not fit on the Vinalhaven ferry, let alone be able to navigate the sharp turns of narrow island roads. As George Baker noted, “there’s no good way to move blades on ANY island.”
An offshore wind turbine site could be, arguably, more easily developed than sites on the island, but presents its own set of problems. Lobstermen lay traps on the shoals that would be most attractive sites for turbines, and would probably be opposed to laying cable and drilling deep caissons on their favorite grounds. And of course there are the aesthetic issues that have caused such controversy on Cape Cod.
“Put it out on the water, every guy who goes by on his sailboat feels they have the right to say something about it,” said Philip Conkling, president of the Island Institute. “If it is on the island and the islanders approve it, it’s a totally different political game because the people who are gaining the benefit are also bearing all the costs.”
“Community” Wind
As a result of the obstacles to developing wind power, representatives of the islands’ electric co-ops have begun meeting together with the Island Institute, environmental consulting groups and wind power funding sources to try and organize a combined effort to bring wind power to the islands.
The meetings have focused upon issues of public funding, funding and organizational structures to best benefit the islands, surmounting logistical issues and coordinating public relations and public education efforts. The goal is to share information and build support among islanders to present a larger coalition to investigate and develop wind power on the islands. The emphasis is on making wind power a community decision, and applying the different financing and management models of community-owned wind projects in Germany, Denmark and across the United States to the islands of Maine.
Ed Schwabe of the Swan’s Island co-op is working with Sally Wright from the University of Massachusetts’s Amherst Renewable Energy Resource Lab on potential sites for Swan’s Island, and is very candid about the importance of community approval.
“We need to study Sally’s research and narrow down turbine sites, advantages and disadvantages, and where could the community tolerate wind turbines,” Schwabe said. “[We] need to make sure to let the community know there is NO decision to go forward until a comprehensive assessment of pros and cons is conducted, that all options are explored.”
The Co-ops have taken substantial steps towards making sure that wind projects will benefit, and will have the blessing, of their respective communities.
Vinalhaven recently passed a height ordinance that specifically allows for windmills, but establishes a siting approval process to ensure that the any external developers would have to go through the community to develop wind projects.
Schwabe received a very positive response when he presented the results of an initial wind study to the SIEC membership in July 2006, telling them, “we believe, if we consider a limited number of wind turbines, we would reduce and/or stabilize energy costs — we’d like to know if you’d like us to proceed to find pre-development money.”
Reflecting on the presentation, Schwabe remarked, “it was clear from the response that they were heartened by the results of the initial study, and we took from the membership at that meeting the green light to move into the first phase of a serious examination of wind capabilities.”
Next Steps
There is more work to be done. Money, either from private sources or from public funds and grants, needs to be found. Substantial logistical obstacles must be overcome. Public education about the proposed wind projects and their potential costs and benefits will be essential. Community support is required and all possible economic, environmental and aesthetic benefits and costs must be explored. Opponents of wind power are likely to be vocal and influential, and any wind power advocates will need to apply the lessons learned from the controversies surrounding the Redington and Cape Wind projects in Maine and Massachusetts and anticipate the opposition. (Redington was denied a Maine permit this past winter; Cape Wind received state approval recently in Massachusetts.)
But island wind advocates believe they are headed in the right direction; gaining information and support to put together a model of a community-supported wind power project that can benefit not just Swan’s Island and Vinalhaven, but can be replicated on islands and in communities throughout Maine. “Maybe we can show the country what can be done,” said Ames.