WILLMAR -- The Willmar Municipal Utilities Commission has received the tentative schedule for constructing the utility's two wind turbines, now that the commission made the $1,864,500 down payment last week on the $10 million project.
Wes Hompe, staff electrical engineer, said he hopes to ask the commission at the Sept. 8 meeting to call for bids to build foundations and two service roads leading to the turbine site near Willmar Senior High School.
Access to the site will be provided by a road going south from County Ro-ad 90 and by a road coming off the north end of Transportation Road. Hompe ho-pes construction of the foundations can be completed before freeze-up.
The construction contract will include erection of the turbines, which the utility will buy from DeWind Inc. of Round Rock, Texas.
Turbine assembly will be completed by the second or third week of May 2009. The machines will be erected in late May or June and be commissioned sometime in June or early July.
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In other business, the commission on Monday received the monthly revenue and sales reports and the July power supply report.
Bruce Gomm, utility general manager, said revenue from the sale of electricity from January through July 2008 was up 8 percent compared with the same period in 2007 due to energy acquisition and the 2007 rate increase.
The number of kilowatts sold during the same period rose only 0.3 percent in 2008 compared with 2007 because cooler and less humid weather in July reduced the need for air conditioning.
Chris Carlson, utility purchasing and power supply clerk, said July's second-lowest daily load of 700 megawatt-hours occurred on the 12th when the temperature was 91 degrees but the humidity was 47 percent. July's highest daily load of 1,089 megawatt-hours occurred on the 29th when the temperature fell slightly to 86 degrees but the humidity rose to 73 percent.
"That's a huge difference, and it was a weekend and a weekend is typically a lower load,'' said Carlson.
The load-share and interruptible energy conservation programs, which are designed to reduce the peak load, were hardly used in July 2008 compared with July 2007.
Under load-share, commercial and residential customers voluntarily have their air conditioning power turned off during peak periods. Interruptible customers have generators that they activate to help reduce the peak.
In July 2007, which was a warm month, load-share was used seven times and service to certain customers was interrupted three times. This year, load-share was used once and no customers were interrupted.
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Carlson said the programs are very good for utility costs.
"We were able to save some money because we didn't have to purchase as much power because the loads were down, and it was good for the customers because they didn't use as much power,'' said Carlson.
"I think a lot of people did not even have their air conditioners on or they had them on minimally,'' she said.
Also Monday, the commission designated the 22nd annual Public Power Week Oct. 5-11 in Willmar to honor the utility for its contributions to the community "and to make consumer-owners, policy makers and employees more aware of its overall contributions to their well-being.''
