Wind power in NM - large and small (Tucumcari, Vaughn: leasing, how much)

[GregW]

Considering the comments about the endless wind in New Mexico are there any major wind developments or personal/residential size wind turbines/mills around NM? Personal experience appreciated.

[ziaAirmac]

PNM actually has wind farms as part of it's generating grid. Any PNM customer can choose to be a part of a program, called "Sky Blue". Ostensibly you're paying a somewhat higher rate to use some of the wind farm's clean energy. In practice, everyone taps off of the main grid, so there's no way to say: "ziaAirmac is paying to only receive energy from the wind farm.". When I asked about it, what PNM said is that the extra amount goes to further develop alternative sources and to market the program (increased participation creates more funds for further development.). It feels somewhat insignificant on a single house's scale, but I have to say I've felt very good about our choice to be a part of the program and try to make a difference. In that sense it's us paid back tenfold.

Wind energy on a personal property is a tough one out here because although many places get very windy at times, few places have a solid, constant wind, and that's what you need to make wind energy viable. Every time the early spring or East Canyon winds start up, I lie in bed at night envisioning a wind turbine maxed out on the roof causing my meter to spin down as the house gets buffeted. The reality is that although the gusts are very powerful, they're short lived on the scale of the year and would be hard pressed to have your system pay for itself. I think I remember an average value of 12 mph for a given spot to be viable for wind energy. That's a really windy spot to maintain that annual average. Also, because of ground turbulance, wind generators become much more efficient with height. This negates almost any installation in town because by the time you've got you're generator high enough and properly secured, you've also got yourself an eyesore to every Chevy Suburban driving neighbor in the subdivision.

[rruff]

No personal experience, but some info here:
Wind Powering America: State and United States Wind Resource Maps
http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhy...nm_50m_800.jpg

Note that power availability is proportional to the cube of the wind speed. In other words an 20mph wind has *8 times* the power of a 10mph wind. As you can see on the map, some parts of NM would be quite good for it, but they are not large areas.

[mortimer]

ziaAirmac puzzled:

> ... there's no way to say: "ziaAirmac is paying to only receive energy
> from the wind farm.".

You can't say the the electrons swarming through your magnificent 60-inch bigscreen TV are from that wind farm, but it might help to think of it like a bunch of hoses in a pool.

The hose from the wind farm has a meter on it and the farm and PNM know how much 'water' went into the pool. They get paid for that at the wind farm rate - whatever that is.

PNM owns the water in the pool.

You, the consumer, sucks 'water' out of the pool any pay for it based on what your meter says. You agree to pay what PNM says you will pay per unit of 'water.' You further agree to pay the little bit extra for the portion you agreed to pay extra for.

Now, the anal-retentive-green-eyeshades-beancounters get in on the action and allocate money from your to PNM and further allocate money from PNM to the wind farm at their favorable rate.

> ... feels somewhat insignificant on a single house's scale, ...

Yeah, but it's one thing to say "the government should do this or that and quite another to put your money where your mouth is.

I'm going to cruise the PNM web site to see how to sign up for a piece of the action. I was going to do this earlier in my residence here, but put it off due to temporary reasons.

It is actions like these from individuals that make the propogation of wind and other renewable progress at a faster rate because there is less that is left for the government to do.

> Wind energy on a personal property ... wind generators become much more efficient with height.

Maybe if you aren't trying to do too much with it, it could work for you.

Do you (anyone) remember the upright wind turbine on the West side? It was there when I moved in 1985, but I think it was gone by 1990 or thereabouts. It was, maybe 40 feet high.

That is, the turbine looked like these: Pacwind - home
and not like these: Image:Turbine aalborg.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Earlier, I posted a map of wind potential in NM from here:
http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/72138.pdf

You'll find the apex of NM potential wind power is Vaughn, NM.

[ziaAirmac]

Originally Posted by mortimer

You, the consumer, sucks .... PNM says you will pay per unit of 'water.' You further agree to pay the little bit extra for the portion you agreed to pay extra for.

I just knew, on some level PNM felt this way

[WasSoggyInSeattle]

There's a farm outside of Elida, NM. If i remember correctly there are soemthing like 120 turbines... supplying energy to NM, West TX & parts of OK. We drove up there and they are HUGE... pretty impressive structures.

Local ranchers say they get more money leasing the land for the turbines than for all years of ranching they've done.

[mortimer]

ziaAirmac creates on the canvas of his choice:

> Originally Posted by mortimer
> > You, the consumer, sucks ....

> I just knew, on some level PNM felt this way ...

You sir, are an artist. I've voting you #1 wordwright.

[Devin Bent]

Originally Posted by rruff

No personal experience, but some info here:
Wind Powering America: State and United States Wind Resource Maps
http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhy...nm_50m_800.jpg

Note that power availability is proportional to the cube of the wind speed. In other words an 20mph wind has *8 times* the power of a 10mph wind. As you can see on the map, some parts of NM would be quite good for it, but they are not large areas.

Do you know of similar maps at ground level? Because these maps at a higher altitude show that most of the people who post on this forum are in the worst areas for wind power.

Yet, there is a lot of talk about the wind in NM. So, what is the explanation?

Is the ground level wind very different?

[desert sun]

they have those huge wndmills farms outside Ft.Sumner and I think they have some around the Tucumcari area.

[GregW]

If you mention wind turbines around here you would think you have committed some form of senic blasphemy. Thanks for the comments, I will look into that program when I move. In the meantime they should have Seabrook Station back on line after its annual fuel rod rearrangment.