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Pool and spa company getting into wind turbines

Toledo Free Press
March 4, 2010
Written by Duane Ramsey
www.toledofreepress.com

Preferred Pools and Spas in Maumee is getting into the wind turbine business, according to the company’s owner Rick Kleopfer.

“We’re expanding into wind turbines with plans to sell them to the same clientele for our pools and spas,” Kleopfer said.

The company will act as the sales force for selling wind turbines manufactured and installed by SUR Energy of Sandusky.

Tim Rathbun, CEO of SUR Energy, confirmed Preferred Pools will represent and sell the 40kW wind turbine his company plans to produce by the end of this year. The company also distributes other models of wind turbines ranging from 10kW for homes to 2.5 MW for wind farms.

Staff from owens community college explain how to inspect a wind turbine to the staff of Preferred Pools and spa.

Rathbun said his company has invested $1 million in wind turbine technology and is investing another $1.5 million to build a 12,000 to 20,000 square-foot production facility on the site of its sister company, Oncore Plastics in Sandusky.

Kleopfer said Ohio has the best grants for wind energy, paying 40 percent of the cost, while federal grants cover another 30 percent with additional tax credits available.

“It’s really a home run kind of thing for consumers at this time,” he said.

The SUR Energy wind turbine could retail for about $75,000 but with the state and federal grants and tax credits, you can get the out-of-pocket expenses down to $15,000 or $12,000, according to Kleopfer.

Kleopfer and six of his employees enrolled in the Wind Installation Training Program at Owens Community College. Bill Gwin, Gary Hardenbrook, George Kramer, Jason Jones, Allen Monrow, Jeffrey Samson, and Kleopfer were part of the first class of 10 students who completed the program March 4.

“We’re learning the technical side of the products so we can properly represent them,” Kleopfer said.

The students in the wind training class gained firsthand knowledge when they learned how to lower the 33-foot Skystream 3.7 wind turbine located on the college’s Toledo campus for inspection and maintenance purposes.

“It’s safety first and safety always. Everything has to be checked and double checked,” Joe Peschel, coordinator of customized training at Owens, told the students before they began the exercise on the wind turbine March 2.