At the top of a hill roughly in the middle of St. Croix, the wind didn’t seem to stop blowing, a reminder that there’s energy up there, "free money" for the taking.
Wednesday afternoon a pair of visiting engineers stopped by the St. Croix Reformed Church at the top of Kingshill to look over the grounds, which someday soon might be home to a wind-driven generator.
A church committee has been looking at alternatives to electricity from the Water and Power Authority, and is focusing on wind power over solar.
The committee has only a few weeks to decide, and if it gets a go-ahead from the church’s governing body, will apply for a grant from the V.I. Energy Office.
Toygar Unal and Dean MacFarlane of Syntonic Corp., a New Jersey-based company specializing in wind power, are visiting St. Croix to make a presentation Thursday at an eight-hour forum on wind power, sponsored by the Energy Office.
During their hour-long visit to the church Wednesday, the wind never stopped blowing. To those standing on the ground it was a constant, gentle breeze. But 60 feet overhead, Unal said, it was probably 10 to 15 miles an hour.
Kingshill was one of several stops Unal and MacFarlane made to get a feel for the wind on St. Croix, and they agreed the island has potential.
"This looks like it could be good," Unal said. "A lot of people don’t have what you have here."
At the same time, he cautioned, it’s more complicated than standing on a hillside and feeling the wind on your face. A wind survey of a site has to be conducted.
But even without a formal survey that can pinpoint the exact potential, there are plenty of resources to start with, including government data from NASA and the Weather Service, online tools, and even your own eyes.
Unal pointed to the trees and bushes growing on the church property. Many of them were bent slightly, all in the same direction, and most of them were barer on the eastern side than the western. That indicates that the wind has been blowing on them for most of their lives, pretty consistently.
Unal is the CEO of Syntonic. The name may sound like one of those made-up, high-tech-sounding names, but it’s actually a real word that aptly expresses the company’s philosophy. It comes from a German word that means "to harmonize," and the company is dedicated to finding solutions to energy problems that are in harmony with the environment.
Besides working with clients throughout the Northeast on environmentally sensitive energy solutions, Syntonic consults, educates and advocates for wind power wherever it can.
That’s what brought the two N.J. men to St. Croix, to take part in Thursday’s day-long wind power presentation. The forum, organized by the Energy Office, is already booked solid by Crucians eager to learn more about harnessing the wind.
Neil MacQueen, a member of the church committee investigating the alternative energy system, says the numbers are convincing. A wind-powered system could totally eliminate the church’s monthly energy bill, pay for maintenance, provide a fund for the day the system will have to be replaced (because everything has to go sometime) and leave the church with funds to provide assistance to the community.
The committee is looking at a system with an initial cost of $63,000. Most of that would be for the concrete pad the wind turbine would sit on. That has to be a 15-foot square, six-feet thick.
The V.I. Energy Office is accepting grant proposals for a federally funded program. The maximum available for each grant is $50,000. Don Buchanan of the Energy Office said the office expects to be able to fund most, if not all, qualifying proposals from the territory.
While a wind-powered electrical system could be the answer to the church’s electrical bills, economics are not the only consideration, MacQueen and the Rev. Rodney Koopmans acknowledged.
The church lawn is marked by a large cross that is lit up at night and visible far out to the west. A 60-foot wind turbine tower would dwarf the cross, and to some people might say something different.
"What kind of an icon would that be for the church?" MacQueen wondered.
Still, if God is providing the wind and the federal government coming up with most of the startup cost, it might be too hard to pass up.
