A wind turbine at the Kittery transfer station will be removed and the town will be reimbursed for its cost, after testing indicated the turbine produced only 15 percent of the electricity expected. ..."I am very disappointed, but the lessons learned are very valuable," he said. "We're not going to proceed to install this sized turbine again without a clear understanding of the wind sustainability and location."

KITTERY, Maine - A wind turbine at the Kittery transfer station will be removed and the town will be reimbursed for its cost, after testing indicated the turbine produced only 15 percent of the electricity expected.

Town Manager Jon Carter said Entegrity Wind Systems of Boulder, Colo., will begin making monthly payments to the town until November, with a balloon payment for the remainder of the $191,028 cost of the turbine. After the town has received all payments, the company will come to Kittery and remove the turbine.

"I am very disappointed, but the lessons learned are very valuable," he said. "We're not going to proceed to install this sized turbine again without a clear understanding of the wind sustainability and location."

The 50-kilowatt turbine failed significantly - producing less than 11 kilowatt hours of electricity since its installation last October, through the windy winter months, when Entegrity estimated the turbine would generate 70,000 kilowatt hours.

Carter said he was somewhat surprised at those results. A town committee had collected data for seven months from an anemometer (a device that measures wind) that had been placed at the transfer station. "It appeared we had enough wind there," he said. When a contract was put out to bid, Entegrity was the only company with a warranty and a price the town could afford, Carter said.

Carter said the turbine under-performed due to wind turbulence from surrounding trees. The trees are 75 feet tall and the tower is 125 feet tall, not tall enough to prevent the turbulence, which Carter said undermines a turbine's productivity.

He had nothing but praise, however, for Entegrity, which has stood behind its warranty and has worked with the town. "I want to make clear, it's not because the turbine is a poor piece of equipment. Entegrity is stepping right up," he said.

Entegrity's marketing and communications manager Krista Koranda agreed.

"We don't want to have machines out there that aren't producing good energy and aren't living up to our estimates," she said.

She said the company recently created a new system for measuring wind that is "really spot on" and would likely not cause a repeat of what occurred in Kittery.

Carter said the town's energy committee continues to work toward ways to improve the town's energy efficiency, and plans to apply for federal stimulus funds to weatherize Town Hall.

Web link: http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090603-NEWS-906030391"