Ed's Tech Page

We operate 3 wind turbines
Our banks of solar cells help provide power to all our buildings
Our latest system rated at 80kW could power over 10 homes
Even the chicken barn looked like a great opportunity to install a 10kW system
A great shot showing 2 turbines, a 25kW system, as well as pot grown raspberries and tomatoes .

Green Energy Generation at Cider Hill Farm

Wind Turbines at Cider Hill Farm

3 - Bergey Excel-S turbines each rated at 10kW peak output.

Estimated Annual Energy Production:  9,000 kWhrs

Solar Panels at Cider Hill Farm

Over 600 panels rated at 130 kW total in 4 different installations

Farm Energy Usage: 

Cider Hill Farm uses approximately 130,000 kWhrs of electrical energy annually for agricultural production, crop storage, and housing for the crew.  With the wind, we now meet about 95% of this demand.

Grid Connection:

All of the Cider Hill Farm turbines and solar cells are grid-connected. The power produced by the turbines and the solar cells is conditioned so that it matches the power company line voltage and phase and becomes part of the power company’s distributed energy generation network.  In the case of the wind turbines, which generate wild a.c. that varies in frequency and voltage, the output is first rectified to d.c. and then processed back to a stable a.c. voltage and frequency through a line-commutated inverter which is phase regulated by the power grid interconnection.  For the solar cells, which generate direct current, the processing is somewhat easier since there is no need to rectify, and the output voltage of the array is quite stable.  A phase-synchronized inverter is still necessary, but the overall process is more efficient, which may be a primary reason why we are to this date seeing better overall performance from the photovoltaic array than from the wind turbines.

Funding:  Both the wind and the photovoltaic projects project were greatly assisted by grants from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, Commonwealth Solar, our Natural Resource and Conservation Service and the Mass Dept of Agricultural Resources.  Any Massachusetts resident or business considering a green energy project should start with a visit to the collaborative’s web site, http://www.masscec.com

Contractors:

Wind Turbines and Towers: Vermont Green Energy Systems, East Middlebury, VT

                                                            Contact: Tom Halnon, (802) 388-4334

Photovoltaic Array:  Nexamp, Inc., Andover, MA, http://www.nexamp.com/,

                                                            Contact: Dan Leary, (978) 688-2700

Additional Wiring and Grid Interconnection: Palermo Electric, Amesbury, MA

Excavation and Grading:  Palermo Construction, Amesbury, MA

Got a question for Ed?

contact Ed Cook at edjc@ciderhill.com