Is that a wind turbine?

Is that a wind turbine?

Jul 12 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Brent Burkey York Daily Record, Pa.

Jim Bailey got interested in wind power partly from traveling around the country with his wife, Sandy, seeing the towering turbines.

Meanwhile, at home, he said electricity bills just keep going up.

But perhaps the most practical reason is found in the name of his wife's store -- Hilltop Country Barn of Heidelberg Township.

The business is actually on top of a hill, just south of Route 116 between Spring Grove and Hanover.

"The wind has always fascinated me," Bailey said, "especially since that is a windy spot."

So the Baileys invested in an $80,000 commercial-grade wind turbine for the store.

It's a top-of-the-line model, complete with the ability to retract down during bad weather or for repairs, Bailey said.

Now operational, Bailey said the gift store business gets a lot of questions from people about the wind turbine.

He even gets personal visits at his farm from people who track him down looking for information.

Bailey expects the setup to pay for itself in seven or eight years.

Wind power can be hit-or-miss, but with Bailey's setup, the business still has power regardless of whether the weather cooperates.

When the wind blows, the turbine setup sells the electricity into the power grid for Met-Ed customers to use.

Then, the business essentially buys power from the electricity grid like any other customer would, whether the wind blows or not.

A bi-directional meter keeps track of the give and take. If everything goes

according to plan, Bailey will either break even or sell more into the system than he buys.

In other words, he won't get an electricity bill, he'll get an electricity check.

And, he can do so without fouling the environment, Bailey said.

"There is no pollution with it," Bailey said.

Although the wind turbine was installed earlier this year, it took about five weeks or so for the power company to come and hook up the meter, Bailey said.

There are very few customers at this point who have such a setup, said Scott Surgeoner, spokesman for Med-Ed parent company FirstEnergy.

Only recently has the technology become commercially available and cost-effective.

But, Surgeoner said, it is the wave of the future, and Met-Ed and other FirstEnergy business units have employees dedicated to alternative energy.

He also said there could have been several reasons for any delay to the business, from availability of the needed equipment to other work that needed to be done this year, considering the storms that have hit many areas.

"It's not a shelf item, a bi-directional meter," Surgeoner said, in reference to their availability.

Although Bailey said he's about the only person he knows of with a wind turbine in the area, Hilltop Country Barn is actually not the only small business in York County to walk down the alternative energy path.

Andrew Lentz of Morningstar Marketplace in Jackson Township has a plan under way to put about four acres worth of solar panels on his property.

The 4,700 solar panels are expected to produce about 926 kilowatts of electricity.

This system is also expected to sell back into the Met-Ed electricity grid.

Lentz said property taxes made him think that he should do something with his land, and there are government incentives for such investments.

The project had received necessary township approvals in the spring, and Lentz said this past week the project is progressing with getting needed funding.

Lentz also said that he plans to have a stand at the market that will tell customers there about the solar setup, including how much energy is being produced and what environmental savings are being achieved.