Linn County 'wind gardens' possible

"Wind gardens" may sprout  in Linn County if county supervisors decide to pursue a Texas company's proposal.

Not the big wind farms constructed by utilities in northern Iowa, the system developed by Viryd Technologies uses smaller turbines on shorter towers to generate electricity at lower wind speeds.

"They can produce power when other turbines don't," said Richard Taylor, vice president of marketing and sales for Austin, Texas-based Viryd.

If a study finds the area's average wind speed is sufficient, supervisors are willing to consider wind gardens at the new Community Services - Options of Linn County building in southwest Cedar Rapids, at Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center near Toddville, at the county Conservation Department offices northeast of Marion, and on Mays Island, where city participation would be required.

The supervisors will decide at Wednesday's formal session whether to go ahead with a feasibility study, which Taylor said could be compiled from existing data in a matter of weeks.

District 2 Supervisor Linda Langston, D-Cedar Rapids, said she heard about Viryd while helping organize a wind-power conference for the National Association of Counties. She said she contacted former Gov. Chet Culver, who formed a wind-power consulting firm last April, "and he said you need to talk to this company," one of his clients.

Viryd's system uses small, highly efficient turbines atop towers standing less than 120 feet tall - often 60 to 80 feet. The turbines' blades are 10 feet long, compared to 60 feet for large-scale installations. The turbines can generate electricity in winds as low as 3 mph.

Taylor said Viryd scales its installations to match a customer's power consumption, allowing the initial investment to be recovered in as little as seven years. Applications would also take into account zoning and the safety zones in case of a tower's collapse, but the noise associated with larger wind turbines isn't an issue with smaller turbines, according to Taylor.

"If you were standing directly under that turbine, the most noise you're going to hear is as if you had a room air conditioner on high," he said.

If the city is interested, District 3 Supervisor Ben Rogers said a Mays Island installati0n could power the county courthouse and jail, city hall and the Veterans Memorial Building, and the new federal courthouse.

"It's a very powerful image of a progressive community," said Rogers, D-Cedar Rapids. "I don't know what (Cedar Rapids) is going to use that (site) for, but it seems very, very appropriate."