Wind Industries

By Andrew Waite | Peninsula Clarion Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Kenai is doing more than any other city in the state in terms of encouraging wind turbine development within city limits, a leader in Alaska wind energy installation said.

On Nov. 4, the Kenai City Council passed an ordinance establishing the rules for building generators in the city. Nadia Daggett, Alaska Wind Industries' owner called it the most progressive set of urban wind turbine regulations she's seen in Alaska.

"Actually, their ordinance is the best so far," Daggett said, comparing Kenai's newly minted rules to Homer's. The two cities are the only two in Alaska that have addressed the issue of wind generator development within city limits, Daggett said. "You have to have more than an acre in Homer, which pretty much eliminates everyone. But in Kenai you only have to have 20,000 square feet."

Kenai City Council's ordinance spells out the following rules:

If you own a 20,000-square-foot lot in the rural residential, suburban residential or urban residential districts, you can build a turbine no taller than 80 feet. The central commercial, limited commercial and central mixed-use districts as well as Old Town have the same 80-foot limitations.

In recreation, conservation, general commercial, education and light industrial areas, turbines can reach 150 feet.

Turbines in the heavy industrial region can be as tall as 300 feet. Anything within 8,000 feet of the airport is assessed on a case-by-case basis.

In all areas, turbines cannot be the only structure on the property, blades must clear the ground by 15 feet and their spinning should not generate more than 50 decibels of noise. That noise level is equivalent to quiet traffic or a quiet radio.

The turbines cannot be painted with gaudy or ostentatious colors and cannot be used for advertisements.

All electrical equipment must be buried underground and no one should be able to climb any turbine.

Everyone seeking to install a turbine must complete a building permit.

Kenai began looking into turbine development regulation early last summer, according to City Planner Marilyn Kebschull. She said city code was initially very restrictive when it came to turbines, because it lumped them in with most other structures. The residential zoning code does not allow any structure to be over 35 feet in residential areas.

The new ordinance essentially makes an exception for wind turbines, Kebschull explained.

"In most areas around here, in order for the turbine to be above the trees and catching the wind, it needs to be higher than [35 feet]. "When we looked at the code and applications for wind turbines that came in, we realized there has to be special conditions."

Daggett said most turbines she expects to install in Kenai would be 50-foot Proven 6kW, which produce 6,000 to 12,000 kilowatts per hour, depending on wind speed. They create about 40 decibels of sound.

The city council spent many hours researching wind energy and in workshops with Daggett before passing the ordinance earlier this month.

"I've gone over and over it with them and showed them information discussing how high power can be and explaining to them about different wind turbines," Daggett said.

The result is an ordinance that hopefully encourages people to think about accessing wind energy, councilman Bob Molloy, the council's liaison to the city's planning commission, said.

"It's supporting the interest of residents having alternative sources of power," Molloy said. He said Kenai's ordinance goes hand in hand with Homer Electric Association's SNAP program.

Started in 2007, HEA's Sustainable Natural Alternative Power program aims to bring small-scale alternative energy sources to its customers. Customers interested in developing alternative energy sources contribute to a fund, which then goes to help energy producers pay for developing technologies like solar, wind, geothermal and biomass power.

Wind energy itself is not new to Alaska. Large, commercial farms have been in the state for more than a decade. Of late, Cook Inlet Region Inc. is planning a facility on Fire Island, west of Anchorage in the Inlet, that will contain 36 turbines.

But the Kenai Peninsula seems to be leading the way in small-scale and residential wind generators, which is exactly what Kenai's recent ordinance was looking to promote, according to Kebschull.

"It was to provide a means to guide the development in the city," she said. "We didn't want commercial farms."

While some of Kenai's more densely populated areas are not conducive to turbines, Kebschull said she believes the ordinance makes the alternative energy source as accessible as the city allows.

"We're hoping that what we designed will work well," she said. "I think what we've designed is going to meet residents' needs."

Reporter Andrew Waite can be reached at andrew.waite@peninsulaclarion.com