Thomas, who was the Rotary Club of Saipan meeting speaker at the Hyatt’s Giovanni’s Restaurant on Tuesday, said having both solar and wind resources in one place is very unusual.
“The CNMI is fortunate to have both resources here — a sure solution that anyone can resort to reduce the costs of electricity bills,” he said.
Thomas said the lifespan of a solar panel is up to 20 years, and 10 to 20 years for a wind turbine, with an estimated cost savings of $3,830,000.
“These investments cost money, but you are buying a one-time equipment whose rates will not increase and are not subject to the increases in fuel, shipping costs, and other factors. This means you will install the solar and wind panels at one time, and save hundreds of dollars in your monthly bills,” he said.
Among the alternative power generation ventures in the CNMI is the Saipan Southern High School wind and solar project installed in Jan. 2009 that powers two science classrooms for the first phase; the 60-kw solar panel power generation project at American Memorial Park whose date of completion target is this month; and the CNMI Division of Energy office on Capital Hill which includes the installation of 3-kw solar panels and one Skystream 3.7 wind turbine. The estimated date of completion for this project is also this month, Thomas said.
He said SSHS spends over $40,000 in electricity bills each month, and tapping solar and wind power generation can reduce this amount.
Thomas said in line with their future projects is a proposed solar and wind area lighting at SSHS and other Public School System campuses, and the installation of solar water heaters on all PSS campuses and at CNMI government offices.
