Anchorage Daily News

WASILLA -- Backyard wind turbines are popping up around the Matanuska-Susitna Borough as energy prices rise and residents try to harness those notorious Valley winds.

But officials in Palmer still point people asking about turbines to a 2005 study of statewide renewable energy sources that actually rated Palmer and Wasilla as poor to marginal for wind energy potential.

Tell that to scores of people around the Mat-Su who already power their homes with the area's gusty drafts.

"Those statistics might say that wind energy won't fly in Wasilla," said Jeff Carney, a Wasilla attorney with a new wind turbine on his lawn.

"But if you look at physics, it says a bumblebee can't fly, and they do."

Nearly 50 of his wind generator customers live in the Mat-Su, said Kirk Garoutte, who sells and services renewable energy supplies as owner of Susitna Energy Systems Inc.

Officials in the cities of Palmer and Wasilla are fielding calls from people asking about turbines.

The easily recognizable turbines -- they look like propellers on tall poles -- are popping up all over, including the Palmer-Wasilla Highway and Soapstone Road.

Palmer chiropractor Joe Hawkins plans to install a wind turbine, as well as sell them. Owners at Wasilla radio station KMBQ 99.7-FM hope to install a turbine, though nothing has come of those plans yet.

Banker Chuck Hodges last year put up a 75-foot-tall, 2,500-watt turbine at his home on Palmer-Fishhook Road.

On windy days when most of his appliances are off, Hodges said, he stands in front of his meter and watches it turn backwards. "It was kind of nifty," said Hodges, operations manager for First National Bank of Alaska. "I know it doesn't run backwards enough like I'd like to see it."

POOR POTENTIAL?

Greg Sowder knows firsthand the power of the Knik River wind.

As the 34-year-old medic drove home to Anchorage from Wasilla on a blustery February afternoon, gusts blowing down the Knik River buffeted his little red 1991 Toyota pickup.

Then the truck's rear end lifted off the Glenn Highway altogether.

"My rpm's just shot straight up so I knew my wheels weren't on the ground," Sowder remembered of that blustery day back in February. "When they touched the ground, I spun into the guardrail, rolled on my side and slid about 100 feet down the road."

He got out all right. The truck was totaled.

The wind died altogether about 15 minutes later.

Given his experience with its vagaries, Sowder doesn't think much of the Knik wind's power potential.

"It's really bad," he said. "It's too gusty and it comes from all different directions."

SOME STATE AREAS RATE HIGH

Indeed, that 2005 statewide renewable energy study rated the potential for wind energy development in Palmer and Wasilla as marginal at best.

Done by the Alaska Energy Authority and Renewable Energy Alaska Project, it rated places in Western Alaska and the Aleutians highest.

Perhaps the study holds true for large-scale wind farm production, said Susitna Energy owner Garoutte. Wind patterns aren't uniform here, and some places don't get much, such as Big Lake, he said.

Also true: Turbines start turning at 8 mph and tend to shut down when the wind hits 55 or 60 mph.

Wind gusts in the Matanuska Valley have topped out around 100 mph. So those really windy days could, weirdly, result in stilled turbines.

But people shouldn't be discouraged, Garoutte said.

He owns a home on Flathorn Lake and commutes to his Anchorage store by plane. He powers the house with wind and solar 10 months of the year.

"If the Valley isn't a good place for wind, what is?" Garoutte asked.

Find Zaz Hollander online at adn.com/contact/zhollander or call 352-6711.

REGULATIONS GOVERNING WIND TURBINES MIXED

THE PROCESS: Wind turbines get different treatment from different governments.

• The City of Palmer doesn't allow turbines, in areas zoned residential but they are allowed in commercial zones, depending on the location and specifics. The city has considered regulating wind turbines, but decided to wait until the Matanuska-Susitna Borough can develop more general rules regarding towers taller than 100 feet, said Sandra Garley, the city's community development director.

• That borough process will probably lead to turbine-specific regulations, borough planner Eileen Probasco said. The borough has no turbine-specific rules now.

• The City of Wasilla allows turbines but has no laws on the books regarding them one way or the other, planner Jim Holycross said. He's encouraged planning officials to address alternative energy in city code.

ADVERTISEMENT