Recording towers to measure Missoula’s wind potential

Missoula will have at least five wind-reading devices within the month to measure wind flow in hopes that data collected will prove favorable for installing energy turbines in the future.
The man coordinating Missoula’s research is a University of Montana senior who is starting up a wind energy branch with UM’s Alternative Energy Technologies.
Christopher Giarratana, a current intern with the office, found an alternative energy company in Wyoming that will donate towers used to record wind-flow data.
“Without data you can’t persuade banks or people in the community that it’s actually possible,” Giarratana said regarding the potential for wind turbines in the city. “People thought it was possible, but they didn’t know how to get it. I just thought it would be important to get the actual data out there, but the first step is to get the recording devices out there.”
He said he hopes the 92-foot recording towers will be up within two months and that data will be available six months later. He is currently researching to determine the best locations for the towers, each worth about $6,000.

KB Energy is donating the towers because it liked what Giarratana was doing and wanted to take its old equipment off the shelf and put it back into use again, he said.
The company was confident that the wind towers, despite being more than 10 years old, would read data with the same accuracy as newer models. The biggest differences between newer and older models are things like weight and longevity of the equipment, he said.
Giarratana’s interest in wind energy use began as a high school student, when he attended the School of Environmental Studies, an optional high school in Minnesota. During a field trip to a wind farm, he said, he realized the huge potential for wind energy.
At UM, his interest in renewable energy continued, and he is in the process of creating a student energy reform group.
Developing wind energy technology is a great opportunity for the country because it’s “economically feasible and environmentally responsible to do so,” he said.
A megawatt of wind energy generates as much electricity as 225 to 300 households would use annually, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
Using this estimate, Montana’s existing wind projects, totaling about 165 megawatts, should have the capacity to power close to 50,000 homes annually.
Montana is ranked 19 among the states in the amount of wind energy produced, although it ranks fifth in potential capacity according to the association. The group claims Montana could generate 116,000 megawatts of power, more than 700 times more than the state is currently producing.
Giarratana said he would like to see some of that energy generated in Missoula.
Brian Kerns, project manager for Alternative Energy Technologies, also believes Missoula has wind potential. His company installed a tower to read wind on Waterworks Hill in September and plans on taking readings from it for at least a year.
“It depends on how the funding goes, but I’ve been trying for years to get a community wind project going,” Kerns said.
A wind turbine in Hellgate Canyon near the University is used to power Kerns’ office, and has the potential to annually generate around 87,000 kilowatts at maximum output with winds blowing constantly at 35 miles per hour, Kerns said.
However, the Hellgate turbine usually only receives wind blowing at 10 miles per hour, and not constantly. It generates about 4 percent of its maximum output, with 3,500 kilowatts annually, he said.
Nevertheless, Kerns said that amount of wind has been enough to power his office, and fuel for wind is free.
“Wind is the most competitive renewable technology to the traditional forms,” Kerns said, adding that coal and natural gas are only cheaper because they have been around for so long and have more facilities.
New Montana wind technology projects in construction will almost double the current amount of wind energy the state produces, according to American Wind.
Wind farms like Judith Gap Wind Energy Center, located in the central-eastern part of the state, opened in 2005 as the first industrial wind farm in Montana.
The center will provide about 7 percent of the electricity needed to serve NorthWestern Energy’s 300,000 customers in Montana, according to data from the state government.
“NorthWestern Energy doesn’t own any generating facilities. They buy all kinds of power from different sources,” Kerns said, adding that this includes wind energy from smaller wind farms.
“Wind is always good, renewables are always good,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how complicated it is; coal used to be complicated, gas used to be complicated, but we figured it out, and that’s what we’re doing with wind.”
carmen.george@umontana.edu