The sun was out, and more importantly, the wind was blowing at
the Ross property in San Juan Bautista, making it a perfect day to
set up a wind-powered turbine.
The sun was out, and more importantly, the wind was blowing at the Ross property in San Juan Bautista, making it a perfect day to set up a wind-powered turbine.
And as the turbine’s 80-foot tower was raised Friday, it marked the beginning of cleaner power and lower electricity bills for Carole and Ron Ross.
“This is clean, not polluting. The most abundant resources we have are our natural resources – wind and sun,” said Peter Burcat, founder of Solara Energy, the company that installed the wind turbine system. “It makes it so that we’re not dependent on any oil country to give us power.”
The turbine will produce 10 kilowatts of power an hour and will easily power the Ross’s 4,000-square-foot home, outbuildings and electric water well.
Once the turbine is running – later this week – the family will no longer depend on Pacific Gas & Electric for electricity, and it will even contribute to PG&E’s power grid. The meter on the house will actually spin backwards, Burcat said. Also, the family’s utility bills will range from $500 to $700 a month, including no electricity bill.
“Our house is all electric. The surcharges were killing us,” Carole said. “We have so much wind up here, we thought we would capitalize on it.”
In an effort to encourage people to find ways to produce their own power, state governments offer rebate programs to help people recuperate the cost of installing solar or wind systems. California is repaying half of what the Ross family spent on the system. Also, the couple will receive a 15-percent state tax credit. Depending on the model, wind turbine systems can cost upward of $90,000.
The rebate program also encourages separate power production because there is not enough supply to meet demand, Burcat said.
“The state can’t bring enough power for the needs,” he said. “The population base is growing faster than they can produce power. Energy costs are not going to go down.”
The Ross property is located on Merrill Road, seven miles from the ocean, and in an area that receives heavy winds which make it an ideal location for the wind turbine system. The turbine rotates 360 degrees with the wind flow and winds can reach between 5 mph and 28 mph, Burcat said. The turbine does produce a sound similar to a car idling, but Carole said it’s a small price to pay.
The average house uses about three kilowatts, but she said they need about seven kilowatts. The couple selected a wind-powered system over a solar system because winds blow almost constantly in the area, she added.
Solar and wind energy production are becoming more popular and cost effective because of better technology. Because they are natural resources, there is no pollution as with nonrenewable fuels that produce pollutants when they are burnt to create power.
For example, a three-kilowatt system avoids release of about four tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – the equivalent of driving the average passenger car about 100,000 miles, according to Solara Energy.
Wind and sunlight are “renewable” and are easily retrieved, naturally replenished and do not harm the environment when used to generate power. And renewable energy can also be more reliable, Burcat said.
Solara Energy, a Gilroy-based company, installs solar- and wind-powered energy systems in California, Dallas, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Burcat said. The company was founded in 2001 by Burcat and Mark Weiss as a result of California’s rolling blackouts. Burcat and Weiss sought a solution that would provide a reliable, cost-effective alternative to using power.
Solara Energy designs specific systems for businesses and homeowners, buys the equipment, installs the system and maintains it when necessary. Solara Energy can also set up a renewable energy system so that people can draw power from the public utility grid as a backup during a system failure or during routine maintenance.
For more information on Solara Energy, go to www.solaraenergy.com.
