Three wind generators manufactured by an Arizona company were erected in Gouldsboro last month. The Randalls’ is the shortest at 33 feet.—STAFF PHOTO BY JACQUELINE WEAVER

New/Old Technology Catches On in Gouldsboro

GOULDSBORO — When Katherine and Phil Grant hear the blades of their wind generator spinning outside — they say it sounds like a hard blowing wind — it’s music to their ears.

“We find it a welcome sound because we know it’s helping our electricity bill go down,” said Katherine, whose home is on East Schoodic Drive in Birch Harbor village.

At a time when residential wind generators are still uncommon in Hancock County, three went up late last month in Gouldsboro.

The installer in each case — All Season Home Improvement Co. of Augusta — has erected more than 100 wind generators in Maine in the last 18 months.

“They’re all over the state,” said Meredith Greig, project manager.

Building permits for the wind turbines in Gouldsboro were issued by the town office, which is using the state’s specifications since there is no related ordinance in place at this time.

A key issue is that the generator not land on a neighbor’s house in the event that the tower should fall.

“We look to create what I call a ‘safe area’ if we can,” said John Fuhrman, code enforcement officer for Gouldsboro.

Jim and Elaine Randall’s wind generator was installed at their home on Paul Bunyan Road in the village of Corea.

The third generator is at Bill and Betty Weidner’s house on Crowley Island Road in Corea.

Weidner said he was inspired by the 10-kilowatt, 100-foot wind generator at the Millstream Heights Apartments in Winter Harbor and motivated by the prospects of reducing his dependence on home heating oil.

“We were hoping it would generate enough electricity so that we could run electric heaters and offset the oil bills,” said Weidner.

Randall’s turbine is 33 feet high. Weidner’s 46 feet, and Grant’s is 50 feet tall.

In general, the higher the tower, the more power the wind system can produce, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The “head,” or turbine, on the top of each tower is the same and is equipped with three fiberglass reinforced composite blades.

The Skystream wind generators were manufactured by Southwest Wind Power of Flagstaff, Ariz., which is the only wind generator company with which All Seasons is affiliated.

As to how they work — the wind turns the blades, which spin a shaft, which connects to a generator and makes electricity.

The company said the Skystream model has a rated capacity of 1.9-kilowatt hours continuous output with a 2.4 kilowatt hour peak.

The average household uses about 10,655 kilowatt hours of electricity each year.

The Gouldsboro homeowners were told they can expect to recoup their investment within eight to 10 years.

Randall said the installation took four days over a six-week period — one day each to excavate and erect forms for the concrete pad, pour the concrete, which must cure for 30 days, install the necessary electrical wiring and erect the generator.

The Randalls bought their wind generator after years of attempting to lower their electric bills, which they said average $300 a month.

They heat with oil, but have an electric hot water heater.

In an effort to reduce their electric bill, the Randalls changed out their refrigerator, dishwasher, and washing machine for more energy-efficient models, but found the reduction in their electrical consumption was minimal.

A computer technician, Randall thought the fact that three of his five computers were left running all the time might be contributing to the problem, but shutting them down didn’t help.

Bangor Hydro conducted an energy audit years ago and wrapped their hot water heater, he said.

Randall said he consulted wind maps online to determine if his property experienced enough wind to make the $16,000 cost of his wind generator a viable option.

The New England Wind Map showed their “spot on the Earth” experiences 12-mile-per-hour winds. The specifications on the 33-foot wind generator called for 8-mile-per-hour winds.

If the tower needs any maintenance, technicians can lower the aluminum tower to the ground by virtue of hinges between the tower and the concrete pad.

“For example, if the head of the windmill is tracking the wind but not spinning, the pole might need to be re-leveled,” Randall said.

Weidner said when the blades of the wind generator are spinning, he can literally watch his electric meter going backward.

“That means at that point we were generating more electricity than we were using,” he said.

When the meter started moving forward again, Weidner dashed inside his house to see what had changed.

“The hot water heater was going on,” he said. “This makes you really aware. You can literally see what you have on in the house with respect to the meter.”

Bangor Hydro business analyst Calvin Luther said up-to-date electric meters can read energy used and energy generated.

If a customer with a wind generator has an older meter that can’t track the amount of energy generated, Bangor Hydro can install an additional meter.

Luther said the energy generated by the wind generators goes back into the main grid.

Customers with wind generators are then credited on their monthly bills if their turbine produces more energy than they use.

“They don’t get a check,” he said.

All three wind generator owners say neighbors are very curious about the technology.

“The response has been very positive from everyone we talked to,” said Weidner. “We’ve had a number of calls from people saying they wanted more information because they are interested in getting one.”

He and his wife were careful to position their wind generator so that it doesn’t block anyone’s view.

Katherine Grant said she and her husband have had only positive comments.

“People find it quite fascinating,” she said.

Randall, who said he has always been a bit of a cutting edge, first adapter type, quotes a much used phrase when describing wind power.

“It’s not about the view,” he said, “it’s about the vision.”