By Emma Bouthillette 

Staff Writer

Two local utilities may soon get into the wind business. Kennebunk Light and Power District (KLPD) and Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water District announced Nov. 24 they plan to collaborate during a yearlong wind study.

The discussion to conduct a wind study began about one year ago with customer inquiries about wind as an alternate source of power, said KLPD General Manager Sharon Staz.

With many areas in the state beginning to set up windmills or conduct wind studies, Staz said the district thought it would be appropriate to look into possible locations.

One anemometer, a device used to measure wind speed, will be placed on the water district’s storage tank in West Kennebunk and the other will be installed on a temporary tower along Route 9 on resident Larry Dwight’s property. Dwight said he agreed to allow the town to use his coastal property for the study after being involved in the conversations about conducting a wind study.  

“It is just an experiment,” Dwight said. “Hopefully we get some honest answers of whether the wind speed is feasible or not.”

In collaboration with the water district, the estimated cost of the project is $7,000, significantly less expensive than hiring an engineering company to do the study, water district Superintendent Norm Labbe said. Using staff from both utilities to construct the tower and monitor the anemometer is reducing costs, he said. 

“It would cost between $30,000 and $40,000 to call somebody to conduct a similar wind study,” Labbe said. 

The districts will set up a 150-foot former radio tower on Dwight’s property, which won’t be visible from the road, with two anemometers about 30 feet apart during December, Labbe said. Staff from KLPD and the water district will be responsible for collecting the data on a regular basis throughout the year.

“Wind is not a black and white thing, but we will have good data economically if we decided to do something with wind generation,” Labbe said. 

Staz said the data collected throughout the year will help the districts determine the potential wind power that is available.

She said some residents believe certain areas, including along the Blueberry Plains on Route 99 are windy enough to produce power, but wind study maps seem to dispute this.

“We just won’t know along the coast until we collect our data,” Staz said. 

For the water district, their annual electric bill is approximately $200,000 and Labbe said with the power produced from wind being fed back into KLPD power grid, he anticipates a potential reduction in the water districts expense as well as benefit customers of both utilities, but Staz said the economic benefit will depend on the amount of wind power produced and the price of market energy.

“This economical wind study is the first step to see if wind power is a feasible project,” Labbe said. 

During discussions with Saco, which has two wind turbine locations, Staz said the turbine located at the public works facility is “good economically” but the larger turbine located by the train station “is not performing up to expectations.”

She said the wind study will help determine whether or not investing in a wind turbine is economically beneficial to the utilities and the customers.