Harnessing the wind – on a small scale

Rob Winner – rwinner@kcchronicle.com John Cassimatis, of Electric Venture Contractors, a business that specializes in wind and solar energy, has modified the top of an old windmill on his property in Kingston and installed a new wind turbine that produces electricity for his home.

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Brian Hunter has decided that the time has come to branch out into the wind.

For the past few years, Hunter, of Batavia, has operated Green Star, a company that remodels homes to be more energy-efficient.

But this year, Hunter has signed on to take his business to what he believes is the next level of going green, inking a deal to serve as a local distributor of some of the hottest up-and-coming new technologies in the country – small wind power turbines.

“This was a dream of mine,” Hunter said. “To make it so that people can generate their own power.”

Across the country, an increasing number of individuals and businesses are installing the so-called “small wind” electricity generators.

The products are not designed to produce massive amounts of electricity, like their much larger cousins in commercial wind farms. Those wind turbines, standing as tall as 300 or 400 feet, can power hundreds of homes.

Small wind turbines generally stand 30 to 100 feet off the ground and can produce enough electricity to power a few appliances or a home, farm or business.

And the market for those turbines is booming, said Ron Stimmel, small wind advocate for the American Wind Energy Association.

In 2007, there were 9,092 small wind turbines sold in the U.S., an increase of 14 percent from the previous year, according to the Web site of the American Wind Energy Association. Last year, the market grew by 96 percent, with sales of about 17,800 small turbines.

And the growth is cutting across residential and industrial sectors, he said, as consumers are drawn by the prospect of sharply reducing utility bills.

“Growth is the single word that can describe what is going on in this industry right now,” Stimmel said.

Wind power manufacturers and industry advocates are expecting that growth to continue. But small wind power still must overcome obstacles, Stimmel said.

Though tax incentives can cut as much as 30 percent of the cost of a wind power system, products large enough to power a typical home can still cost $15,000 to $30,000 or more to install.

Bruce Stephens, owner of Alternate Energy Representatives in Batavia, said the cost is the primary factor that has blown away potential customers.

“We’re getting a ton of inquiries,” Stephens said. “But the sales are much harder to close.”

Further, small wind turbine manufacturers still are seeking ways to move their products into areas where most Americans live. Most products now on the market are either impractical or ineffective if installed in typical suburban residential neighborhoods, Stimmel said, as they can be hamstrung by erratic wind conditions caused by nearby structures.

And, Stimmel said, a patchwork of zoning laws across the country has made it difficult even for those living in residential neighborhoods in which wind power could be an option to install the systems for their own use.

In DeKalb County, for instance, wind turbines are prohibited for use on all residential lots smaller than 2 acres, for fear that the devices could fall on neighboring properties. The rules also restrict the height of the towers and require turbines to be a certain distance from surrounding buildings and lot lines.

In Kane County, rules specifically for wind turbines still are being crafted by elected officials and county planners.

“We’re still moving through the process,” said Mark VanKerkhoff, director of building and community services at the Kane County Development Department. “We’re still in the learning process when it comes to these things.”

Local small wind distributors, however, hope that zoning rules are made more lenient.

Only a handful of properties in the region now boast a small wind turbine. John

Cassimatis, owner of Electric Venture Contractors in the city of Kingston in DeKalb County, installed one on his farm atop an existing tower that once supported a windmill that had been used to draw water from a well.

But he said his business is constantly frustrated by northern Illinois counties’ zoning regulations that he believes are based on misconceptions about wind power.

“We know that people are interested in this,” Cassimatis said. “But in a residence, when there’s not sufficient property, what’s a homeowner to do?”

Other distributors say they are working to craft new rules that are more friendly to small wind power projects.

Hunter said he will be meeting with Kane County officials in coming weeks to discuss the county’s rules.

Hunter said his small wind products can be installed “anywhere.”

“I’d really like to get approval to put these up in cities,” he said. “And I think that can happen.”