Wind power
Azle News Online (Blog)
July 10, 2008
www.azle-news.net
By Carolea Hassard
One gently hums, the other gives a low whoosh-whoosh-whoosh.
Loosely translated, the noise means “money.”
Two Parker County residents have installed wind turbines that could, if details can be worked out with their electric companies, earn money – or at least credits on their electric accounts.
It’s still a bittersweet experience for both of them, however. Bert Dimock of Springtown, who has had his Skystream turbine installed for less than three months, actually got charged for the electricity he produced in June.
“Oncor said they’ll negotiate a settlement on that,” he said. He now has a “net meter” that runs backwards when he produces more electricity than his household uses.
Mike Renner of Azle, on the other hand, cannot yet get credit for the excess electricity he produces. Tri-County has required that he become a sort of commercial supplier and Renner has not completed the contract for it yet.
For now, Renner’s meter simply stops when he’s producing more electricity than his household is using.
Luckily, neither Dimock nor Renner seem bothered by the trouble.
“I classify this as kind of a ‘boy’s toy,’” Dimock said with a grin. “It’s curiosity and the hope that it will pay off in 15 years.”
“Knowing I’m giving green energy to everybody, that’s OK,” Renner said.Dimock got into the green energy business knowing he probably wouldn’t produce excess electricity, but hoping that it would reduce his electric bill by 20 or 30 percent.
After doing much homework (the internet is a great source, but plan to spend several hours educating yourself), Dimock chose the latest technology, a Skystream model by Arizona manufacturer Southwest Windpower.
The turbine’s inverter is located in the housing of the turbine itself (an inverter is needed to convert the direct current that a turbine generates to alternating current, which is used for household applications).
It requires no batteries for electrical storage and can be hooked directly to the state’s power grid.
The Skystream 3.7 turbine is rated to produce about 400 kilowatt-hours (kWh) a month, at wind speeds of about 12.5 mph.
According to wind maps (available at www.awea.org), this area gets an average wind speed of 12 mph over a 24-hour period, Dimock said.
The higher the turbine, the faster the wind speed, he added. Dimock’s tower, a round type whose sections slip together, stands 50 feet tall.
The turbine’s cost, including installation, was about $15,000, he said.
Dimock installed the turbine in the back yard of his East Seventh Street home (Skystream recommends a property that is at least a half-acre). It creates a low hum, which is not audible from more than 75 feet away.
Renner’s green experience is a little more complicated, partly because he uses both a wind turbine and solar panels.
Altogether, Renner said he has spent about $50,000 on green energy gadgets, but has saved some $20,000 of that in various tax credits (such credits change continuously and there are none yet for residential wind generators, he said).
Renner is also a self-proclaimed “geek,” constructing most of his gadgets himself with help from his wife, Elida.
He built a 100-foot tower from a lattice-type that someone scrapped, steadying it with guy wires and sinking it in eight feet of concrete (compared to Dimock’s foundation, which is four feet deep).
The 10,000 kW turbine is made by Bergey Windpower, an Oklahoma maker that has been manufacturing turbines for 20 years, Renner said.
In May, Renner produced about 812 kWh with wind power, 398 kWh with solar power and bought 282 kWh from the electric company.
“In spring, winter and fall the wind is good,” he said. “In summer, it’s not – except this summer. I produced 125 kWh in 24 hours one day in the first part of June. That was a windy day.”
Renner has his turbine installed several yards from his home, located on Newsom Mound Road near Veal Station.
The turbine makes a gentle whoosh, “no louder than a window unit,” Renner said. “When the wind is blowing real hard, you can’t hear anything anyway.”
He installed the Bergey turbine a little over a year ago, after a two-year nightmare trying to get a Chinese model to work for him.
“It broke,” Renner said. “I paid $5,000 (for it)...you really do get what you pay for.”
The new, bigger turbine cost about $25,000, he said (the tower, at $3,000-$4,000, was relatively inexpensive because it came from scrap).
“The first thing people ask me is, ‘What is the payback?’ But what’s the payback on your car? Nothing, and you have to (maintain) it. It gets you to and from work.” |
