Excerpt from the Windsor Star:

Residents tap into turbine power

By Sarah Buell, The Windsor Star February 23, 2009

     After three years of research and planning, two Maidstone residents are hoping to see the last of their electricity bills.

Krista and Barry Fields, with the help of business partner Jeff Brown, used a crane to erect two slender wind turbines at their South Talbot road home Monday morning.

     “(We’re) going green first and then hopefully (we’ll) never have to pay another electricity bill,” said Krista Fields, who’s last hydro bill was $440.

     The 40-foot tall Skystream turbines are built in Arizona. They cost the couple $9,000 each, but are estimated to pay for themselves in six years.

     According to Barry Fields, the turbines are linked to the electrical grid and work on contract with Hydro One through a bidirectional meter that monitors consumed and outgoing energy.

     The couple will use the energy created by their turbines first, with any additional energy needs supplied by Hydro One.

if the windmill produces more energy than is needed, it is sold to the grid and the homeowner is credited, said Barry Fields, who believes this will be the case in the spring and fall when the couple generally uses less energy.

     “This is going to cut our electricity bill down tremendously,” Krista Fields said of the turbines, which have the capacity to produce up to 240 volts each. “I’m telling everybody.”

     Brown said the two men are hoping their experience assembling and erecting the turbines will lead to a potential business venture. The two own Machine Doctors in Windsor, and are in the business of productivity improvement, with Ford one of their main customers.

“We’ve been looking for a new niche to get into,” he said.

     He hopes that with this experience the partners can begin to work on the installation and maintenance of turbines. “We’ll have a good opportunity to bid on the work.”

     The pair has at least one more job — they plan to erect a turbine at Brown’s Windsor home within the next two weeks.

Courtesy of the Windsor Star February 23, 2009.

Photographs by: Nick Brancaccio, The Windsor Star