Greg Smith, Thompson Pump: It’s the largest line-shaft turbine and irrigation pump in
central Oregon.
Cindy Grossman, Hope, Faith and Charity Events: The well is Big Bertha. The pump is Big Bertha.
And even on our tax bill it is known as Big Bertha.
Tom Van Aken, Lower Valley Turf: Big Bertha runs five pivots, nine wheel lines and about
350 hand lines.
Vern Rice, Central Electric Cooperative: We’ve known that this was a high-usage system. We
knew it needed some modernization.
Greg Smith: In order to run one pivot they’ve had to run four to six pivots to keep the
pressure down without blowing things apart.
Tom Van Aken: One night it happened. And so the next morning I didn’t have pressure
on the other pivots. So I’m driving out along the main line trying to find out what
happened and the front end of my pickup falls into a great big hole. [Tom laughing] My bumper
is on the ground. The tires are in the mud, you know. So you’re losing irrigation. Your
crop needs water. So your down time is about a day.
Robert Wallace, Wy’East Resource Conservation and Development Council: When you have multiple
irrigation systems such as a wheel line and a pivot. The wheel line system may need to
run at 55 to 60 PSI [pounds per square inch] versus a drip system or a low-pressure pivot
may only need to run at 30 PSI. So we can actually use a variable frequency drive to
take advantage of the times when we don’t need those high pressures or when there’s
change in flow.
Verne Rice: So once this program was announced we could see it was relatively low risk for
the irrigator; a simple rebate — that’s what sold the project.
Greg Smith: If somebody was going to shut a pivot down that had to be up here closing
valves and monitoring what the pressure was or they’d be blowing pipes out of the ground.
And now it’s got what I call an A/B switch on it. It’s actually an A, B, C, D switch,
that depending on what Tom’s irrigating and what the Grossmans’ are irrigating,
if they’re irrigating everything and Tom’s running the wheel lines at the far end of
his ranch, he has to be running about 80 PSI. So he comes up and puts it on A. He doesn’t
even have to get off of his four-wheeler; just runs up and switches it to A.
Tom Van Aken: Just by a flip of a switch I can run it at 50 pounds or 80 pounds. So there’s
a big savings because instead of having to run everything at 80 pounds, 24-7, I can run
it at 50 pounds for 12 hours of that day.
Cindy Grossman: It has made the system work so much better. The VFD saved in the water
and the power. But beyond that it saved in labor. It saved in repairs. It saved in fertilizers
that you weren’t wasting by overwatering and washing those out. You can operate the
business more economically in many ways at the same time as saving your energy and your
water.
Tom Van Aken: Instead of running 100 percent we’re still down like 92 or 94 percent power
draw from normal. But our biggest savings is in the spring and the fall. We’re saving
probably about 60 to 70 percent on the power bill.
Vern Rice: We estimated the energy savings would result in a simple payback in approximately
two years. So if you have variables in flow and pressure, variable crops; definitely something
to look at, consider it strongly.
Tom Van Aken: I can sleep at night now. Before when the pivot shut off at night I wanted
to get up and make sure the main line didn’t blow apart or something like that. Now when
the pivot shuts down the pump drops from 80 pounds of pressure down to whatever we have
it adjusted at.
Cindy Grossman: The VFD has made everybody’s life a lot easier. So now if you only need
to water the vineyard you can dial down the system, so only using the power that you need
and the water that you need.
Tom Van Aken: It’s peace of mind more than anything. Plus, I’m sure we’re saving
25 percent right now.
Brad Miller, Bonneville Power Administration: We look at energy savings as a resource. The
more energy savings we can bring in through our programs in agriculture the less we have
to worry about as far as generation.
Robert Wallace: Saving water and saving energy a lot of times go hand-in-hand. So one of
the first things we try to do is get people just to start with the basics. And the basics,
in a lot of cases, are just the sprinkler hardware rebate programs that are available
through your local utility.
Brad Miller, Bonneville Power Administration: It’s a win for the utilities because they
can meet their [energy efficiency] targets. It’s a win for the RC&Ds [Resource Conservation
and Development Councils] because it helps them fulfill their purpose. It’s a win for
the farmers because they can reduce their energy load, their water load, and their fertilizer.
And it’s a win for Bonneville because it helps us meet our [energy efficiency] targets.
Robert Wallace: I just encourage you to contact your local utility and see what’s available
in your area. And then they can put you in touch with the folks that can actually come
out to the farm and help run some very basic calculations just to get a rough idea on where
you stand and what the opportunities may be and what programs you may qualify for.