BAY MILLS - Standing all alone in a field on the east side of M-221, like a sentry watching over the 117.9-acre parcel of tribally owned property, is a 50-meter tower, on loan from the United States Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The tower, erected in early November by Lake Michigan Wind and Sun of Sturgeon Bay, Wisc., will be collecting data as part of a joint wind resource study, between Bay Mills Community College and NREL, to determine the feasibility of developing wind power in the region.
According to BMCC Director of Research Dr. Michael Doyle, a similar study conducted five years ago by the tribe found that there was not a sufficient enough wind resource in the area. Doyle said he believes the results of that study were not entirely accurate, and that the 30-meter tower used in the initial study was too short. He lobbied NREL to loan the college the higher tower for use in a two-year study, which they eventually agreed to do. Since the trees and ground slow down the wind, Doyle said it is necessary to have a high enough tower that extends above the trees, where the wind resource is the greatest.
"Ultimately, we are trying to find out if we have an adequate wind resource here," Doyle said. "If we do, then it would be economically feasible to pursue an economic development plan for installing wind turbines for locally produced energy. We know [the wind resource] is up there; we're just trying to find out if it is enough. The study with the smaller tower never really answered that question."
The current tower is fitted with six anemometers that measure the wind, several wind vanes, and thermometers to record the temperatures. The data is downloaded onto a data logger every 10 minutes, where it is then stored on a card. From there, the data can be downloaded onto a PC, where software is used to look at the minimum and maximum wind speeds, and to analyze other pertinent data.
Doyle said the current tower would remain in place for at least one year. After a year, he said he hopes to move it to the top of Mission Hill. In order to conduct a study on the top of the hill, which he said he is extremely confident would have the wind resource, Doyle said BMCC would need permission from the U.S. Forest Service. In addition to being high above a coastal area adjacent to Lake Superior, which provides the bulk of Michigan's wind potential, Doyle said the location is even better because it would be out of the way.
"If the study [on M-221] tells us we have to go higher, then what better place than on Mission Hill?" Doyle said. "It's already high up and it's not on the coast, so it's less of an annoyance. People just don't like to look at those kinds of things (wind towers/turbines)."
Doyle said he believes locally produced energy would mean not only an independent source of energy, but a source of generating economic revenue as well. With grants in the works to begin exploring various bio-fuels, such as timber and wood products like sawdust and pine needles, Doyle said the wind study is just a precursor to what he hopes to accomplish at BMCC.
He also plans to begin researching using the following as sources of energy: solar; agriculture (hayfields, oil seed crops); geo-thermal (using ground to warm water and extracting heat from water with pump); and bio-gasification (taking organic compound, such as wood, and turning it into a natural gas for use as energy).
"[Wind study] is just one piece of a pie," he said. "I'm interested in all renewable energy sources that would mean energy independence for the community. This is just the tip of the iceberg."
