Abbey's power from heavenly source

Providence Journal 08:39 AM EST on Wednesday, March 29, 2006
By ALEX KUFFNER, Journal Staff Writer

PORTSMOUTH -- The crane lifted the 660-kilowatt generator up above the 164-foot tower, lowered it gently into place, and Brother Joseph Byron was happy.

"What a sight," the monk and teacher at Portsmouth Abbey exclaimed. "Amazing."

He directed a visitor to the nosecone waiting to be attached to the generator overhead. It lay in a grassy field below the tower, its three tapered carbon-fiber blades, each measuring 77 feet in length, protruding at even intervals like sleek feathers.

"It's the most beautiful thing, isn't it?" he gushed.

Forgive Brother Byron his excitement. He has waited a long time for the installation of this machine, a Danish-made Vestas V47 wind turbine, which upon its completion in the next few days will be able to convert the steady breeze off Narragansett Bay into electricity for the Abbey and its 80-year-old parochial school.

The Abbey's 15 Benedictine monks approved the purchase of the $1.2-million turbine in 2004. The town of Portsmouth issued permits for the machine one year ago. Soon afterward, the Abbey, with Brother Byron in charge, placed its order.

The pieces started arriving last week. The generator was shipped from Italy, the blades came from Denmark and the tower was brought from North Dakota on a flat-bed truck.

Crews placed the base of the tubular tower in a 26-foot deep foundation on Friday. Its top portion was attached over the weekend. The generator and nosecone went up Monday afternoon.

The turbine stands 241 feet at its highest point. Rising from a hill on the abbey's 500-acre campus, this newest addition to Portsmouth's modest skyline can be seen from miles away.

Advocates of wind energy expect its presence to be felt throughout Rhode Island.

It's the first turbine of its size in the state, the only one -- so far -- that can supply enough electricity to power more than a handful of houses. Many more. Its output of 1.2 million kilowatt hours of electricity could supply approximately 200 homes.

Brother Byron is counting on it to generate 40 percent of the Abbey's total energy needs and save $100,000 a year. The machine will pay for itself in 5 to 7 years. Its life expectancy is 25 years.

Brother Byron sees it as a way to combat the rising cost of fossil fuels and other traditional sources of power. Others think it will create enough interest in wind power and other forms of green energy to spur the pursuit of similar projects.

"Not only will people be more willing to invest, but I think they'll also see that these things are not the big, ugly monsters that they are portrayed to be," Andrew C. Dzykewicz, Governor Carcieri's chief energy adviser, said yesterday.

The state is funding the Abbey's project in part, having awarded a $450,000 grant to the institution from the Rhode Island Renewable Energy Fund.

Carcieri pledged during his State of the State address in January to have 15 percent of Rhode Island's energy come from wind power. If that goal is met, turbines would generate as much as 150 megawatts of electricity, enough power for about 150,000 homes.

The state Economic Development Corporation is set to initiate a year-long study of possible locations for wind turbines that will include looking at the potential for installing the machines off-shore. Dzykewicz said he and an advisory board will choose a company to carry out the study next month.

Already, several entities are considering buying turbines. The University of Rhode Island is looking at installing a 1.5-megawatt turbine. Raytheon Corp. is also studying whether it is worth erecting one at its facility in Portsmouth.

Lefteris Pavlides, a professor at Roger Williams, is preparing to survey residents in Portsmouth and Bristol to find out what they think of investing public money in turbines. He is also working with the nonprofit Providence Plan to create interactive wind maps of Rhode Island.

The town of Portsmouth has also followed the Abbey's lead and has applied for a $25,000 grant from the Renewable Energy Fund to study the feasibility of installing turbines at its public middle school and high school to offset energy costs. Wind-energy experts at Roger Williams University are drawing up computer simulations for that project.

Pavlides, who consulted on the Abbey's project, cautioned that it could be a while before anyone else tries to install a large turbine in Rhode Island.

It will take many months to measure wind speeds and collect other data to determine appropriate locations for turbines. Wind speeds need to average about 12 mph to make a turbine viable, according to experts.

"Wind is an intermittent resource," Dzykewicz said. "What you need to do is find out how intermittent it is."

Still, he and Pavlides are hopeful that wind turbines will be erected in other communities in Rhode Island.

"This is just a little harbinger of what we can do to lower energy costs," Pavlides said.