Farm Energy Partners: Unity wind research on video

Here's a fun thing for the Unity College wind workers: their name "in lights." Our partners at Maine Rural Partners/Farm Energy Partners made an outreach video showing our anemometer placement in Mercer, Maine, among other renewable energy projects.

Wind worker Steve and I are shown with the Burrs (the landowners) working on the 100 foot anemometer tower, which equipment was donated by NRG Systems Inc. of Hinesburg VT, and Competitive Energy Services of Portland Maine, for which we mere scientists as always say "thank you, thank you."

The work was also funded by Efficiency Maine Trust using USDA REAP and DOE ARRA programs, with technical assistance from NRG and NREL.

This equipment will tell us the wind rose, wind shear, and temperature and average wind speed every ten seconds for the next year. It will rule in or rule out turbines of different make and model on this site and others on the same geological feature, a central Maine farmland and woodland plateau in the Town of Mercer. The larger effort of which this is a part will benefit the people of the state of Maine by allowing much better turbine planning, including noise planning. It will also allow cheaper wind assessments for towns and public agencies. Wind data gained from these efforts will be provided on request to the general public.

Many thanks to EMT, MRP and all our funders and supporters other collaborators for the great chance to do some science in the public interest.