Turbine cuts Milwaukee port’s electric costs

   A wind turbine erected last year on the grounds of the Port of Milwaukee’s administration building produces significantly more electric power than the facility uses and the surplus is sold to the grid.
   In the first nine months of operation, the wind turbine generated almost 45,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity more than the port administration facility used. Thus, the port received $5,395 from the electric utility.
   When compared to the previous year, the port’s net electricity cost from Feb. 22 to Nov. 20, 2012 was down $14,683.
   “This has proven to be a sensible, sustainable investment in green energy, and city residents are saving money,” Paul Vornholt, port operations director, said in a statement. “And, the wind turbine has become a landmark near Milwaukee’s Lake Michigan shoreline in our Bay View neighborhood.”
   The Northern Power 100 wind turbine went online at the end of February 2012. The installation and equipment was paid for, in large part, with an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant from the federal government, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.