Green investment
VWRM small-scale wind turbine still considered good investment despite reduced energy generation
A small- scale wind turbine generating electricity for Valley Waste Resource Management (VWRM) in Kentville is viewed as a means to educate citizens on green energy opportunities.
VWRM communications manager Andrew Garrett said the turbine was installed in October 2015 at a total cost of $ 550,000, including the site preparation.
“The turbine was originally planned to be located at a higher elevation,” Garrett said. “We had to move the turbine location lower down the hill because the land wasn’t stable enough.”
The lower elevation has reduced the amount of electricity the turbine can produce since the wind isn’t quite as strong. However, it has generated approximately 235,000- kilowatt hours ( kWh) of energy since it was installed — about 100,000 kWh per year, generating revenues just shy of $ 50,000 per year for Valley Waste. It’s not quite the number Valley Waste had hoped for — the initial projection for the turbine was 140,000 kWh per year — but Garrett believes the turbine is still a good investment despite the reduction in projected revenue.
“The turbine fits into the environmental philosophy we believe in,” Garrett said. “We are creating green energy for our facility and the turbine represents an opportunity to educate our citizens on green energy opportunities.”
Garrett said the project was part of the provincial COMFIT program and, because of this, VWRM gets paid a little more per kWh for the energy produced. The subsidy is what makes the turbine truly economical for Valley Waste.
The electricity generated feeds into the Nova Scotia Power grid. VWRM gets billed for its electrical consumption but gets paid for the electricity fed into the lines from the turbine.
Garrett said the equivalent of nearly all of the power produced or slightly more is being consumed by the VWRM and Scotia Recycling facilities when operating.