Rogue River Wind is working with local engineering group SolCoast to investigate the feasibility of siting a 3 mega-Watt, municipally owned distributed power generation facility using wind turbine and photo-voltaic technology in rural, coastal Oregon communities. Study aspects include development of:
– environmental, social, and geological impacts required for consideration in a formal EIS
– a financial model for municipal ownership, intertie to existing power distribution infastructure, and power sales
– the proper value of adding the new equipment given the expected cost of electric energy production
– preliminary identification of locations and technology suitable for installation including initial specifications and constraints
– considerations of local capacity for manufacturing of critical equipment components
– public outreach and input mechanisms designed to inform citizens of decentralized power generation (producing power at or near the point of consumption) and solicit input to further define potential issues for consideration
– project construction and operation timelines
– class 40 construction and operation budgets
– localized wind and solar resource
– projected power production

Specifically, the project will investigate the use of existing buildings as structures for installation of low profile wind turbines and/or photo-voltaic panels to produce power at or near the place of use. The development of the feasibility study will be concurrently applied as a service learning project delivered as curriculum for humanities (civics and social studies), english (exposotory and technical writing) utilizing visual arts as effective tools for public and technical communications at the local public high school.

Portland State University will also be working on this study.