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small wind Success StoriesCase Studies NY Corporate Executive Powers Home and Company with Wind
Webster, NY – Harbec Plastics CEO Bob Bechtold knows firsthand how far small wind turbines have come in the last 20 years. He became interested in wind power during the first so-called “energy crisis” in the 1970s, and purchased his first wind turbine in 1981, a cheap, 2.5-kilowatt copy of an Enertech machine. The turbine needed frequent repairs and only operated a couple of years. But Bechtold’s enthusiasm for small wind turbines was recently re-ignited when he discovered a Department of Energy grant that would cover 75 percent of the total installation costs of a turbine. In June, 2001, Bechtold put up a 10 kW Bergey Excel at his old farmhouse home in Webster, New York. The turbine provides up to 70 percent of the electricity used in the home, which has a geothermal heating and air conditioning system. “The Bergey has run exceptionally well,” remarks Bechtold. The first wind turbine had Bechtold “hanging off of the tower trying to fix something at least once a month.” But the Bergey hasn’t had a single problem in two years. Getting the machine installed was quite the challenge. Bechtold says he had a 20-year-old permit for his first turbine, and wanted to mount the new turbine on the existing tower. But Monroe County permitting officials said they had no record of the permit. “I had a choice of either grinning and bearing it and obtaining a new permit, or going to war with local officials,” he says. Bechtold opted for the first strategy, which cost him $5,000. But in the process he was able to secure a second wind turbine site. His neighbors didn’t mount any opposition. In fact, his neighbor watched the whole installation process with great interest. New neighbors just accept the small wind turbine as part of the local environment, he says. “Once the first wind turbine goes up in a community, the next few will always be easier,” he says, remembering that two small wind turbines appeared within a mile of his house after he installed his first one. He hopes to install a 6-kilowatt Proven small wind turbine, imported from Scotland, at the old site next year. Once that machine is up, Bechtold will be the proud owner of one of the few homesteads in the country powered entirely by wind. “There is nothing like the feeling of generating your own electricity from the winds blowing across your property,” he says. Bechtold also installed a 250-kW German-manufactured Fuhrlaender wind turbine at his Ontario-based plastics company in December 2002. The machine has been generating approximately 25 percent of the manufacturing facility’s electricity. Bechtold says initial opposition to the turbine, which sits at the main entrance to Ontario, has been replaced by a feeling of public pride from the community.
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