rp_0201_10b.html
News and Information Blow in With the Wind
The wind soon will be bringing news and information to a large swath of southern Idaho
and northern Nevada
where travelers and rural residents previously had no access to local news or emergency alerts. The wind is turning three turbines, charging a battery bank, and, once passed through inverters, powering broadcast equipment for Boise State Radio’s 93.1 FM
station.
The broadcasts of National Public Radio
will serve markets in Jackpot
, Nevada, and parts of Cassia
, Twin Falls
and Owyhee
counties in Idaho.
Boise State Radio recognized the need to serve these rural areas and identified sites that would provide the radio signal coverage. Only one thing was missing — electricity. Solar proved too costly for the power requirements, so the station chose wind as an alternative, explains Steve Johnston
, Director of Engineering and Operations.
Radio station personnel worked with Bergey Windpower
using the U.S. Department of Energy Wind Resource Atlas
and their own computer modeling to study the selected site on Ellen D. Mountain
. The peak rises to 8,633 feet above sea level, in a high desert landscape where wind gusts are often between 80 and 120 miles per hour.
Three turbines on guyed towers standing 24 meters tall supply about 7.5 kilowatts (kW) each at wind speeds of about 30 miles per hour. The energy is stored in an array of batteries with a total capacity of about 144 kW hours. The broadcast equipment requires about 5 kW. The U.S. Department of Commerce Public Telecommunications Facilities Program
funded the transmitter. The entire project cost about $500,000 and Johnston estimated the wind portion accounts for about $300,000.
To see the site and the turbines, go to
www.qsl.net/wd8das/JP
. And next time you pass through the area, tune in to the sweet sound of wind-powered radio at 93.1 FM.
— Mary McGown, NW Energy Coalition Chair