While Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex visits the Sister Islands, he will witness the groundbreaking ceremony for the Wind Power Project of Cayman Brac Power and Light (CBP&L) Company.
The communications tower on the Bluff (opposite the Aston Rutty Civic Centre) will be used for feasibility studies for this project, which is the first step towards wind generation on the Brac.
According to CBP&L General Manager Jonathan Tibbetts, no government funds are being requested, just a small space on the tower for an anemometer (to measure wind speed and direction) and a data log, which will transmit information in real time to the company headquarters for analysis.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Cayman Brac Wind Power Project also follows Caribbean Utilities Company’s study of alternative energy technologies, examining the practicalities of producing wind, solar, sea, fuel cell and biomass power.
The CBP&L project aims to construct a windmill farm capable of generating electricity for the Island and reducing power costs to as little as 16 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to current costs of approximately 24 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 100 kilowatts.
Construction of between ten windmills and 15 windmills would see them each producing 200,000 kilowatt hours annually, sufficient to power approximately 130 houses.
The first turbine or windmill is situated near the new power plant that will shortly be constructed on the Bluff at Stake Bay Point, the site of today’s ground-breaking ceremony.
At the highest point, its tip will be 199 feet high but because it will be set back 1,000 to 1,500 feet from the edge of the Bluff, it should not be visible from the base of the cliff.
The first turbine, as well as future windmills, will also have a five-acre buffer zone for safety and noise-intrusion reasons.
Government funds have already paid for a road that runs from Songbird Drive to the edge of the Bluff and the power company has built an access road continuing on to the new plant site.
The style of wind tower planned is an “egg beater” or Darrieus wind turbine, which consists of a number of aerofoils mounted on a rotating shaft or framework.
Unlike the more common type of generator, which uses a propeller, the Darrieus generator rotates around the vertical rather than the horizontal one, and is thus referred to as a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine.
