Incentive programsgive a boost to thesmall wind industry

An Independence company is hoping to make wind turbines a more common feature of the Willamette Valley landscape.

WindEnergy expects to have a handful of small-scale installations on residential properties by October.

"We expect once one goes up in a neighborhood, others will consider it," said Jason Bruggeman, project manager for WindEnergy. "We expect a ripple effect, but we don't know how far it will go."

It has got to go farther than what it has - fewer than 100 small-scale wind turbines are in the entire state, estimated Carel DeWinkel, a senior policy analyst with the Oregon Department of Energy.

Only about 10 are in the Willamette Valley, estimated Energy Trust of Oregon.

Energy Trust, which covers 83 percent of the electrical customers in Oregon, has given incentives for seven small-scale wind turbines in the Willamette Valley - nine for the entire state.

But small-scale wind projects are rising in popularity after the passage of the federal energy bill, which provided tax credits, and the national stimulus package, which provided money toward development of small-scale wind energy projects.

Now, a change in state rule likely will continue to help boost the small wind industry in the state.

The rule provides a streamlined process of certification for small wind turbines as an alternative to the lengthy national certification process.

The lengthy process - as long as 18 months in some cases - wasn't an issue until the popularity of residential wind power grew.

Last year the industry grew 78 percent nationwide, said Andy Kruse, co-founder of Southwest Windpower in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Kruse helped rewrite the Oregon rule.

"The state of Oregon has some of the best incentives for residential-scale wind turbines in the entire country," he said. "It is a real shame that consumers were not being able to benefit from clean renewables because of this hiccup."

He estimates that his company, which specializes in small-scale wind power, will be able to install almost 50 new systems this fall and several hundred in 2010.

Most of those systems will be placed in the windiest parts of the state - the Columbia Gorge and Eastern Oregon. That's the location of huge commercial projects, such as PGE's Biglow Canyon in Sherman County, which could generate enough power for 120,000 homes when complete.

So companies like WindEnergy may have to fight a perception problem - that the Willamette Valley isn't windy. The wind resource is extremely site-specific in the Willamette Valley, according to Energy Trust of Oregon.

WindEnergy's wind turbines will be 70 to 100 feet tall. A 30-foot-tall model was on display this weekend at the Polk County Fair.

"At around the 70-foot mark, the wind is adequate," Bruggeman said. "You need an average wind speed of 10 mph to see the savings you would like to see. The higher you go, the more wind you get. The more wind you get, the higher the savings you get."

In a state where some places boast 17-mph winds, 10 mph may seem wimpy.

For the residential scale, those winds are fine, Bruggeman said.

"We can still hold our own in the Willamette Valley," he said.

Michael Bernards, who lives on a 100-acre farm outside McMinnville, has a turbine that covers about 10 percent of his electricity bill.

But the turbine is only producing about half of what Bernards had expected it to. He chalks it up to a mild year, and he's hoping the wind blows harder next year.

"It is going to take longer to pay off," he said. "But we believe in sustainability and lightening our carbon footprint."