Proposal for a 21-turbine wind farm in southwestern Florida

Budget Detail & Narrative

Program Narrative

Evaluation

Florida, the United States and the broader world in particular is facing an energy crisis. Indeed, it is a battle and one with many fronts. There are a number of good reasons out there to find alternative energy. They include the increasing world population, the pervasive use of fossil fuels, concerns about those fossil fuels running out, pollution associated with those fossil fuels and access to energy for everyone. Indeed, there is an increased need for energy that departs from the dirty energy sources like coal and petroleum. Beyond that, these new sources need to be sustainable. This grant proposal covers precisely such an energy source and it is a source that can greatly improve the quality of life and energy costs of people in the southwestern part of Florida much like it is already doing for people around the rest of the United States and broader world.

Budget Detail & Narrative

Number of Turbines

Acres of Land Required: 7 Acres (about 308,000 square feet)

Roughly a square parcel of land with sides measuring 555 feet

Pre-Installation Consultants: $2,000 (one-time fee)

Cost of Land Lease including Easements (7 acres): $70,000/year

Permits for Installation: $10,000 (one-time fee)

Turbine Warranty: $420,000/year ($20,000 per turbine)

Initial Installation Costs - $63 million (approximately $3 million/turbine) -- only needed up front ... covers installation

Annual Maintenance Cost - $1.89 million/year ($90,000/turbine)

Cost of this advocacy -- Zero ... everyone advocating this project is volunteering their efforts

Amount of power (approx.) that will be produced by the 21 turbines: 42 megawatts (MW)

Average Electricity Cost per Home (2014): $129/month ($1,548)

Program Narrative

The intent of this proposal is clear. Fossil fuels are finite in terms of their supply and they are extremely dirty when it comes to the environment. This proposal presents an energy source that is never-ending and is completely clean as compared to the commonly used petroleum and coal. While there are a number of sustainable energies out there already or on the horizon such as hydrogen, solar and what not, this proposal will focus on wind power via the use of wind turbines. While completely offsetting the power needs currently met by coal and petroleum is not going to be possible at this time, this proposal is a step in the right direction when it comes to meeting that end of eliminating the use of fossil fuels. Indeed, an energy revolution will not happen overnight but it has begun in other parts of the country. Wind turbines are used all over the country already and they have absolutely started to pay dividends. As more research is done and as more alternative energy plants and technologies are brought online, the massive dependence that the United States and Florida has on coal and petroleum will eventually start to fade. Much like the consumer electronics and other fields have advanced and improved in the form of devices that use less power and cars that use less gas, the same thing must be done from the supply end of the equation.

Problem Statement

The population of the United States is not growing at a significant pace but Florida itself is gaining a lot of new residents and the larger world is absolutely growing in terms of total population. This growth is to the extent that there are very real and somewhat scary concerns about how the needs of the planet's people will be met when it comes to several things including food, clean water and so forth. Many of the needs that must be met require energy sources and volume that is not present right now. As such, finding cleaner and finding more energy in general is vital. For example, if people in a heat wave area do not have power, they cannot operate their air conditioners and this can get people killed. If people are not able to put gas in their cars, their ability to get to work and engage in commerce is severely strangled. Then there are very energy-dependent sectors like agriculture and so forth that will have huge domino effects and bad outcomes for others if they go south. While gasoline prices are currently rather docile compared to what they have been, petroleum is not and should not be the long-term solution for our planet's energy needs. However, the power source dilemma that is more specifically faced with this proposal is electricity as fed to houses and other places via electrical power lines. Most of that power is from coal-fired plants and a lot of the rest comes from other unsavory sources such as nuclear and so forth. The wind turbines discussed in this report would help offset the coal-driven power that is currently used and it would be replaced with power that is provided by the wind. While the wind, like the sun, cannot be relied upon as a reliable energy source throughout the entire day, whatever can be harnessed in a cost-effective manner should be. While this problem is global, many of the solutions will be local and southwest Florida is a place to start.

Objectives

The objective of this grant proposal is to procure funding to get a base inventory of wind turbines in some unpopulated areas of Southwest Florida. The land in question is not currently being used for anything that would prevent the presence of turbines, so the projected site is actually great. It would be comparable to the land in western Kansas which is flat, windy and has plenty of open space. Indeed, there are many wind turbines along I-70 in the western half of that state. However, the best example, and the one that will be used for this proposal, that could and should be compared to what is being proposed here is that of Wellington, Colorado. They are venturing on much the same path and they are, just as is planned in this proposal, making use of government grants. One of those grants and programs is the Advancing Colorado's Renewable Energy grant. While flat and clear land is not nearly as prevalent in Florida, there are plenty of open areas that could be utilized. Given the rather strong winds that rip through the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico and beyond, Florida is a target rich environment for areas that can be outfitted with wind turbines as a means to produce clean energy that is sustainable and that requires little maintenance.

Methods

This proposal relies on funding as supplied by private donors and philanthropists as well as funding from local and state sources in Florida. There will also be federal-level grants and tax breaks that can be cashed in on as the federal government is target rich when it comes to cash to help fund sustainable energy projects. The initial costs of commercial-grade wind turbines are a bit high. However, the power they can put out is astounding and they only have to be put in place once and then just maintained. Indeed, a utility-grade wind turbine can produce about two megawatts at a cost of about three to four million per turbine. As such, an original set of twenty-one wind turbines would cost roughly $63 million USD but those turbines would produce roughly 42 megawatts of power a year ... every year. To give some scaling here, an average home requires about ten kilowatt hours and a megawatt is one thousand kilowatts. Doing a little math, this provides each wind turbine would power about two hundred homes. This means that a batter of twenty-one turbines would power more than four thousand homes a year.

Evaluation

In evaluating this proposal, the current facts and figures that exist when it comes to wind energy are listed below and should be part of any decision made when it comes to this proposal.

From 2000 to 2006 alone, the amount of wind energy projects out there quadrupled.

Wind energy technically causes some pollution but it is in very nominal amounts and is a very small fraction of what is caused from oil, gas and coal.

In 2012, a total of 70,000 megawatts were produced when it comes to global capacity. Germany and Spain are leading the proverbial pack but the United States is starting to catch up. Even China is getting involved.

Wind-based energy is the fastest growing form of electricity production in the world. In 2012 alone, $25 billion was spent on wind energy investment. The United States makes up about $10 billion (forty percent) of that broader figure.

Wind turbine energy has improved greatly since its inception. The turbines available today produce fifteen times more energy than the ones in 1990.

There are only three blades on a typical turbine and the can spin as fast as two hundred miles per hour.

Every single megawatt of energy produced by a wind turbine (and the ones in this proposal produce double that) offsets about 2,600 tons of carbon dioxide, which is the substance that is said to be most contributory to anthropogenic global warming. In other words, the two turbines being proposed would offset roughly 5,200 tons of carbon dioxide.

The leading states in wind turbine use currently Texas, California, Oklahoma and Iowa.

In 2009, the wind turbines present produced about one percent of the nation's energy but this came to about 52 billion kilowatt hours.

Other countries have been much more aggressive. Indeed, Denmark and Portugal get about a fifth of their energy from wind.

The one major drawback to wind energy is that installing the turbines is expensive. Also, wind can be at a premium in some areas. However, the latter of those two will not be a problem and the initial investment that is costly only needs to be done once.

About 45,100 wind turbines were in place as of 2012.

Through the prior-mentioned tax credits and other incentives, as much as twenty percent of United States energy could come from turbines by 2030 if the proper investments were made. This proposal would be part of that effort.

Appendix

Name of Cost

Up-Front Cost

Annual Cost

Consultant

$2,000

Land Lease/Easements

$70,000/year

Installation Permits

$10,000

Turbine Warranty

$420,000/year

Installation Costs

$63,000,000

Annual Maintenance

$1,890,000/year

Totals

$63,012,000 (one-time)

$310,000/year

Weblinks

CEF. (2013). 35 Facts About Wind Energy - Conserve Energy Future. Conserve-Energy-Future. Retrieved 24 June 2016, from http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/various-wind-energy-facts.php

Energy.gov. (2016). Funding & Financing -- Department of Energy. Energy.gov. Retrieved 24 June 2016, from http://energy.gov/public-services/funding-financing

Miner, J. & Miner, L. (2016). A Guide to Proposal Planning and Writing. OKLAHOMA EMERGENCY Management ASSOCIATION. Retrieved 24 June 2016, from http://www.oema.us/files/Gude_to_Grant_Writing.pdf

NFN. (2012). Colorado Wind Energy Installation Guide available for rural landowners. North Forty News. Retrieved 24 June 2016, from http://www.northfortynews.com/colorado-wind-energy-installation-guide-available-for-rural-landowners/

Florida Department of Agriculture. (2016). Programs / Energy / Divisions & Offices / Home - Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Freshfromflorida.com. Retrieved 24 June 2016, from http://www.freshfromflorida.com/Divisions-Offices/Energy/Programs