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Thursday, February 7, 2008

Edgewood Cool to Wind Turbines

By Lee Ross
Mountain View Telegraph
    Even though the Edgewood town logo has a windmill on it, wind turbines recently received an unenthusiastic reception.
    Wind turbines were discussed at Monday's planning and zoning commission meeting.
    Planning and Development Manager Karen Mahalick said turbines may be 60 feet tall, or as tall as the cell tower near the freeway in west Edgewood.
    "They can get pretty tall," Mahalick said.
    She said she was recently approached by a resident who was looking for a way to reduce his electric bill.
    The resident estimated $20,000 for a turbine and wanted to generate enough electricity to sell to Central New Mexico Electric Cooperative, Mahalick said.
    She also said she is looking into ways to defray the cost of running the town's sewer treatment plant.
    She said that, when running at its capacity of 150,000 gallons a day, electricity for the plant may cost $130,000 a month. Solar panels are an option, Mahalick said, but she hadn't done much research on the cost or electricity generating potential of solar panels.
    "They're getting cheaper," she said.
    Also, solar panels may be more consistent, because there are generally more sunny days than windy ones, Commissioner Doyce Wilhite pointed out.
    Mahalick pointed out that birds are sometimes killed in wind turbines.