NEWS Owners of residential turbines in Maine happy to save on energy billsShareBangor Daily News (ME) MACHIASPORT, Maine — An increasing number of people in Maine are installing single windmills to provide electricity for their homes and commercial enterprises. While wind farm projects such as the one recently approved at Stetson Mountain can take a long time to clear bureaucratic regulations and public objections, rising oil prices and the push toward renewable energy sources are leading more people to believe wind-generated electricity is a wise investment, according to windmill sellers and their customers. Stephen Hallee, president of Green Ridge Wind Farms in Belfast, said recently that his company has erected more than 40 residential windmills since 2004, mostly in coastal locations from Saco to Dennysville. In mid-November, Bob Greig, owner of All Season Home Improvement in Augusta, installed a 33-foot wind turbine at former President Bush’s compound at Walker’s Point in Kennebunkport, one of 40 Greig has installed in the last year. The initial cost to put up a windmill ranges from $12,000 to $15,000, according to Greig and Hallee, but laws mandate that electric companies must credit the homeowner or small business for any power produced as it is fed back into the regional power grid. Miriam Robbins, marketing director for Southwest Wind Power of Flagstaff, Ariz., estimates that between saving on energy bills and payback credits from the utility, it takes eight to 10 years for a windmill to cover its startup costs, depending on conditions. Genevieve Yovino, who put up a windmill on her property in Machiasport in October, anticipates she’ll recover her costs more quickly from Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. because she is a summer resident, and expects to be credited for all the wattage her turbine produces during the winter months. "We're going to run out of oil someday," Yovino said recently, "and I think it's a wonderful thing for my children and grandchildren to be able to get electricity without giving all their money to those countries in the Middle East." William Dingle of South Paris, whose turbine was installed a year ago, said that during the Patriot's Day storm last winter his spun flawlessly through gusts of more than 63 mph and created more than 100 kilowatt-hours over a four-day period. A kilowatt is 1,000 watts, enough electricity to illuminate 10 100-watt light bulbs. A kilowatt-hour is how much electricity is used if those 10 bulbs are lit for 60 minutes. Hallee said the average-size American home with two residents uses 600 to 800 kilowatt-hours a month. The Skystream windmill generator he sells typically produces 400 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month with an average wind speed of 12 mph. Hallee, who has placed residential turbines as far away as Alaska and Hawaii, points out that wind-generated electricity is remarkably adaptable to a wide range of locations. The actual amount of energy produced, he emphasizes, will depend on the location as well as the height of the turbine, but with utility costs almost certain to increase over time, the return from a windmill appears to be a wise investment. Although a 30-turbine wind farm in Redington Township near Farmington was rejected recently, that town’s wastewater treatment plant installed a windmill in early November. Project director Steve Moore said he chose to use the new-truck portion of the budget to cover the installation. He projects immediate savings of about $1,300 a year out of an annual electricity cost of $67,000, but figures savings in the future could be much more. "We're down in a valley," he said, "but some months the wind roars down so much, we generate plenty of power." Maine is the 16th-windiest state in the U.S., according to Hallee. Saco’s wastewater treatment plant has been using wind-generated power since January "on a test basis," said public works deputy director Howard Carter. Seasonal variations in wind speeds make for inconsistent savings, but he notes the turbine has done well enough that the city now plans to install a 50-kilowatt windmill to power the local train station. A feasible investment Hallee, a 1974 science education graduate of the University of Maine at Farmington, was a finalist in 1978 for a federal Department of Energy competition in innovative design for his wind turbine design, but he notes that wind power was not really economically feasible until recently. With high oil prices plus technological advances that have reduced costs, he said wind generation is now cost-efficient. The newest turbine design by industry leader Southwest Wind Power is much more efficient than older ones, Hallee said. The company’s Skystream 3.7 has turbines ranging from 33½ to 60 feet tall, and generators with curved rotors 12 feet in diameter, for a total height of 66 feet. According to Robbins, most customers prefer the monopole housing design, about 6 feet wide at the base, though the Skystream is also adaptable to a thinner, guy-wire-supported tower that Robbins said is "a couple thousand dollars less expensive." Maine dealers Hallee and Greig install only the monopole design. Hallee has created a unique housing for the turbine that, unlike the standard design, comes in sections that make construction and maintenance easier and less costly. A cable runs from the turbine generator directly to the basement power panel in the home, according to Robbins, and can be hooked up by any licensed electrician. The power company installs a second meter at the house to register outgoing power from the generator into the power grid. Although it is possible to disconnect from the grid completely upon installing a turbine, batteries and backup generators would be necessary to maintain power when the wind dies, Hallee said. Most customers stay connected to the grid, he said. Safety is a priority, the dealers said. A computerized program in the generator forces the turbine to slow when wind speeds exceed 50 mph, and it shuts off at 70 mph, according to Robbins. As long as the grid is operating, power to the home is not interrupted even if the windmill stops. If electricity from the utility company is interrupted, as during a storm, the windmill automatically turns off to avoid any transmission accidents, which means power to the home would be interrupted until the grid comes back on line. Robbins said the expected life span of the Skystream is 20 years, though intensity of use depending on weather conditions may affect longevity. Any maintenance is done through the dealer. Insurance companies classify the generator as a regular home appliance, according to Hallee, and the windmill can increase the value of a home by $21,000. Daniel VanWart of Peaked Mountain Blueberry Farm in Dedham said the structure recently erected on his property is deemed a "wind appliance" by his insurer and adds about $13,000 to $15,000 in value. Federal tax deductions for small wind generators were deleted from the national energy bill passed by Congress earlier this month. However, the farm bill includes a tax break in versions passed by both the House and Senate, and after negotiators resolve differences, the final bill should be passed early next year, according to spokesmen for Maine’s Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. The farm bill break allows for a tax credit of 30 percent, up to $4,000, but only for generators 45 to 125 feet tall, meaning many windmill owners on farms may not benefit from it. President Bush has said he’ll veto the bill. State Rep. William Brown of Vassalboro is sponsoring a bill, LD 349, that would give a 30 percent tax deduction on the cost of installation of residential and small-business windmills in the first year. The taxation committee approved the bill 11-1 earlier this year. Rep. Joseph Perry of Bangor voted against it, saying there is too little return on the investment from small wind generators from the little they add to the power grid to justify a $4,500 break. Brown said he expects LD 349 to come before the full Legislature early next year, though he acknowledges there may be some resistance to the tax break because of Maine's budget deficit difficulties. Hurdles There can be hurdles to jump in windmill installation. No state permits are needed to install a wind tower, but height limitations in different Maine towns can vary widely. For instance, VanWart of Peaked Mountain Blueberry Farm said there was no objection when in September he put up a 50-foot tower, plus another 6 feet for the rotors, to power his home and commercial kitchen. In Addison, on the other hand, there is a zoning restriction of 30 feet in some locations, 50 feet in others. Homeowner Bonnie Thompson, who is applying for an 80-foot turbine, said she is considering an attempt to amend the ordinance to apply solely to windmills. And the Machiasport Planning Board has tentative plans to change the town's comprehensive plan to account for future windmill construction, according to board member Jeff Huntley, whose plumbing and heating company installed Genevieve Yovino's turbine. Fears of noise created by a windmill are a concern, but Rachelle Horn of Appleton said she and her husband, Henry, have heard no complaints from neighbors about the turbine they put up a year ago. "It's just a low, whirring sound," she said, "like an air conditioner." And at a cost of nearly $20,000 less than solar panels, she added, there is no question that wind was the way to go. "I used to curse the wind," VanWart said in an interview recently. "Since I put up the windmill, I couldn't be more pleased with it." |
