On top of an 80-foot tower above Bill Grant’s acreage near Homewood, Man., stands an 1,800-watt solution to the spectre of rising energy prices.
The project cost him $20,000, but in the two months since he installed the wind turbine, its performance has left him confident that it will reduce his monthly hydro bill by 25 percent.
His home is linked to the electrical grid, just like those of his neighbours, but when the wind is blowing, electrons from his wind turbine flow back into the system, effectively making his meter spin backward.
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Unlike the small wind chargers of the 1930s and 1940s, when everyone outside city limits was off the grid, Grant’s installation uses net metering instead of an enormous battery bank.
“I have a hydro meter now that has two readings on it. One shows the amount of hydro that I’ve drawn in from them and the other shows the amount I’ve sent back to them,” he said, adding he pays only the difference between the two amounts.
Comparing last year’s utility bill with a monthly bill from this year tells Grant that his turbine is saving him money, but so far he hasn’t sat down to crunch the numbers.
Whether he ends up with a net gain will depend on how much power he consumes in his house and how windy it is.
“Based on the 1,800-watt output and the wind resource that I have here, which is about 13 to 14 mph, it is supposed to make about 6,000 kilowatts per year.”
His consumption, mainly his electric furnace, uses 20,000 to 24,000 kW per year.
“If I put up three more towers, I’d have it all covered,” he joked.
Manitoba’s abundant and cheap hydro-based electricity means the utility pays only six cents per kW hour, but Grant said the price is 11 cents in Ontario.
“It’s interesting if you look at some of the costing models. When you change the price per kW, a simple payback becomes much shorter.”
At current rates, Grant expects the tower to pay for itself within 25 years. The turbine’s warranty is good for 20 years.
In some U.S. jurisdictions, he added, grid-tied renewable energy sources make even more economic sense, with some states offering generous tax credit-based incentives that may amount to almost half the investment cost.
“It varies from state to state, but I’ve seen rebates and tax incentives as high as $27,000 on a $50,000 system. And they’re probably getting 11 cents a kW hour down there and saving quite a bit of money on their utility bills as well.”
He said a proposed federal incentive worth one cent per kW hour is a step in the right direction, but a higher rate would encourage more people to take the plunge.
Grant, who operates Homewood Solar and Wind, said the secret to making renewable energy sources work is to cut back on energy-guzzling appliances and exchanged others for more energy efficient substitutes.
For example, heating elements, which Grant said should include incandescent light bulbs, have a voracious appetite for electricity. Before converting to renewables, all such devices should be removed or at least used sparingly.
“If you think about your coffee pot, when you turn it on, it draws about 1,500 watts. But if you think about (the turbine output) in terms of 12-watt compact fluorescent light bulbs, that’s an awful lot of light.”
He said technological advances in home appliance and lighting efficiency make renewable energy far more practical than in the past.
Compare the power consumption of an old tube radio or television to their counterparts today, he added.
“There are retired ex-farmer types around me who talk about the old wind charger days, and wonder why anyone would want to go back. They think it’s kind of crazy,” he said.
“But they like that (net metering) is a much more dependable way to do it, rather than using the old-style batteries with the glass cells that often broke, and the little wires running around the house.”
Wind resource maps available from Environment Canada offer prospective turbine owners a rough idea of whether an installation would work in their area. However, any obstruction, such as trees, tall buildings or hills, can create turbulence that might reduce the turbine’s output.
Because Grant’s business is selling renewable energy devices, he didn’t bother to set up a wind speed meter to test how much wind was available at his site, figuring the tower would defray its cost by attracting attention from the public and serving as a landmark for customers coming to visit.
“I live a mile off the highway, so it also acts like an advertising sign.”
The tower represents a large portion of the cost of a turbine, with unsupported structures more costly than those held up by guy wires. On the other hand, smaller turbines can be perched on top of a regular hydro pole, lowering costs substantially.
People who live in areas where power outages are common could use a net-metered turbine to charge a battery bank that would kick in whenever the lights go out.
Grant hasn’t taken that step, mainly because he has a wood-fired furnace in his home for backup heating and because his workshop runs on photovoltaic solar panels.
“So far, the ice storms haven’t been bad enough to have major power outages here, touch wood. But in some places, you could use wind power to charge up the battery bank so that it’s ready to power your critical loads, such as the fridge and some lighting.”
He said solar hot water systems, which collect the sun’s heat during the day and release it overnight inside a building or greenhouse, are the next renewable energy projects on his agenda.
