SPECIAL REPORT: Gary Smith’s Continuing Coverage of the Ohio House Alternative Energy Committee
The study of alternative energy solutions in Ohio continued last week when Chairman Jim McGregor (R-Gahanna) convened the House Alternative Energy committee in Wood County, Ohio. Our host for the day was State Representative Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green). About half of the committee members joined Representatives Latta and McGregor. Also on the tour were State Representatives Joe Uecker (R-Loveland), Mark Wagoner (R-Toledo), and Sandra Harwood (D-Cleveland). The Toledo Blade covered the committees work and published the following article http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070327/BUSINESS01/70327037
Fittingly, it was a very windy day in Bowling Green, Ohio (http://www.bgohio.org/) as we embarked on our tour of alternative energy solutions currently being applied in Wood County, Ohio. The committee convened at the Bowling Green Wind Farm Project. What an impressive site it was to drive upon these four massive wind turbines—placed conspicuously in the expansive fields just off of U.S. Route 6. The wind turbine project began as a joint venture among the City of Bowling Green Public Utilities (http://www.bgohio.org/electric/index.html), American Municipal Power—Ohio (http://www.amp-ohio.org/), and Green Mountain Energy Corporation (http://www.greenmountain.com/).
These 1.8 megawatt units were purchased from Vestas American Wind Technology. (http://www.vestas.com/) Each unit is 15 feet in diameter with a tower height of 256 feet. When you add the 134 foot blade, the total height of each unit stands 391 feet! The blade speed reaches a speed of 16.8 rotations per minute. Impressively, the speed at the tip of the blade is 178 miles an hour! The turbine begins energy production at 9 mph with peak energy production at 32 mph.
After construction of the turbines was complete, three phase energy lines were run from the turbines to the public utilities sub-station—allowing the electricity produced by the turbines to flow back to the city grid. Total project cost for the four wind turbines was $8.8 million. Maintenance on each turbine is approximately $25,000 annually.
Guiding the members on this part of the tour was Darryl Stockberger, retired director of the Bowling Green Public Utilities Department. Darryl informed the committee that twenty percent of Bowling Green’s electricity is from renewable sources—mostly from the wind turbines. Each unit purportedly supplies enough energy to run 400-450 homes per year. Success of this wind turbine project should be a shining example to those who dream of dotting Lake Erie with similar turbines.
Committee members loaded into their respective vehicles for transport to the next destination—Calderon Energy. Calderon Energy Company of Bowling Green, is conducting a $14.73 million project (DOE share: $9.50 million) to develop a technology that eliminates coke-oven emissions. Coke-oven emissions currently create environmental problems for the nation’s steel industry (a conventional coke facility has several open spaces where toxic gases can escape). Calderon will modify an existing experimental unit to test a closed system for coke making. Research will also identify a way to clean the raw gas before it is released. The process, if successful, would produce no gas emissions, water discharges, or solid wastes. To learn more about the Calderon process, go here:
Mr. Calderon was an interesting man—and angry. In fact, Mr. Calderon was meeting with representatives of Wyoming (the U.S’s largest exporter of coal—about 40%)—because he said “Ohio is not doing enough to help him and others who are trying to utilize alternative energy’s in Ohio”. Calderon says his process—the Sara Lee Process he calls it—is simple: “You take the rich gas out (and make synthetic natural gas with it)—use the carbon to create ‘clean gas’, sell the sulfer to the paper industry, and the ash to the glass industry”. And, since one ton of coal is the equivalent of 1.3 million barrels of oil, the United States, Calderon says, is misusing an abundant natural resource by simply burning coal to create electricity.
After the eye-opening experience with Calderon energy, the committee traveled to Perrysburg, Ohio to meet with the CEO of McMaster Energy Enterprises, Norm Johnston. In addition to being the CEO of McMaster Energy, Norm is also a founding member of Northwest Ohio Alternative Energy or NOAE. NOAE is a collaboration among alternative energy companies in northwest Ohio, the University of Toledo and the Regional Growth Partnership. Vanessa Fry writing for GreenBiz.com pens an interesting article on both McMaster and NOAE in her article entitled Thinking Globaly, Acting Regionally. Read it here: http://www.greenbiz.com/news/columns_third.cfm?NewsID=34025
Mr. Johnston, an expert on alternative energy’s gave an impressive presentation on the production and use of solar panels, the history of usage and cost of electricity, and HydroGenTech gas—which they use to power a Dodge truck at their facility. Mr Johnston’s most important point was probably the most obvious: as energy demand grows daily, it is going to take not just solar—but all types of alternative energy’s to meet future demands. That is, we must use a combination of energy sources—petroleum, renewable energies (wind, solar, etc.), nuclear, natural gas, and coal. Solar is only a part of the equation, and, to transform solar energy from an alternative energy to the mainstream, you have to reduce the cost.
The House Alternative Energy committee, along with the rest of the Ohio General Assembly is on Spring Break this week and next. Hearings are expected to resume the week of April 16th.
The Ohio Department of Development made alternative energy news when Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher announced this week, the initial grant awards from the Alternative Fuel Transportation Grant Program. Grants totaled $595,000 to 12 alternative fuel retailers and two biodiesel blending facilities. The see the full press release with details, go here http://www.odod.state.oh.us/newsroom/releases/1731.asp.
For a full treatment of what the Ohio Department of Development is doing in the way of alternative energy, see their dedicated energy page at http://www.odod.state.oh.us/cdd/oee/c___i_services.htm