Written on the Wind

A potential energy source that is more than just hot air

They look like something out of The Empire Strikes Back. But the futuristic-appearing contraptions that are beginning to sprout atop remote and windy mountain ridges, and even right in the middle of congested suburban developments, are really nothing more than updated versions of the first reported windmill, which was built to capture the power of Persian breezes in the 7th century.

As the rocketing cost of petroleum pushes electrical utility rates further and further into orbit, "windmill power" is becoming a good bet. In Clayton, N. Mex., 15% of the town's residents now receive their electricity from a giant propeller-like windmill that swivels on a horizontal axis to capture the prevailing winds. In the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, retired Businessman Percy Newbery, 58, is generating an average of $30 worth of electricity per month by means of a windmill device that looks like a jet engine and sits on a 75-ft. wooden pole beside his house. In Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island and Ohio, industrial-size wind generators are operating under Government testing programs.

At present, wind-generated electricity provides less than 1% of U.S. energy. But Carter Administration officials estimate that the figure could double by 1990, and some of the industry's more ebullient advocates see wind power meeting perhaps as much as 10% of American energy needs by the year 2000.

One reason that wind power's future looks bright is growing Government support. The federal Department of Energy in 1979 put some $60 million into the design and testing of large wind generators by aerospace firms such as Boeing and Lockheed. In 1981 the federal outlay is expected to jump to $80 million. The Government is also encouraging, with income-tax credits, small-scale residential windmills for individual homeowners. The credits pay 40% of out-of-pocket costs for the devices.

Most of the 50 or so manufacturers of residential windmills are relatively new and employ a handful of workers. The leader in the field, Enertech Corp. of Norwich, Vt., is five years old and has just 47 employees. Yet in the past twelve months, the company has sold 250 of its "Enertech 1500," a 6-ft.-long cylindrically shaped device that is capable of generating 1.5 kW of power in a stiff 21-m.p.h. breeze, enough to light 15 100-W light bulbs.

At anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 per unit, residential windmills are hardly cheap. In most cases they are also not capable of meeting more than a portion of a family's day-to-day electrical needs. Yet in windy regions where electricity costs are high, a standard $5,000 home windmill with a projected 20-year life expectancy ought to be able to pay for itself in perhaps ten years.

Customers can also cut costs by selling wind-generated energy to their local utility companies. A little-known two-year-old federal law now requires utilities to reimburse customers for any surplus electricity that the windmills feed back into the system. Such surplus power could occur, for example, during periods when winds are strong but household electrical consumption is low. Retired Farmer John F. Wolfe, 62, installed an Enertech 1500 at his oceanfront house in Barnstable, Mass., to harness Cape Cod breezes. When he and his wife are asleep, the windmill keeps churning. Since the local utility company has to buy the power back from him, his overall monthly bill winds up substantially lower.

The infant industry is not without its problems. For optimum efficiency, windmills must be built high enough to be clear of nearby obstructions, such as trees or buildings. This can often mean ugly and obtrusive towers of 60 ft. or more that can interfere with television reception. The larger devices can also cause bothersome noise. General Electric was forced to shut down and modify its gigantic 2-MW generator atop Howard's Knob Mountain, N.C., because residents complained of the incessant hum caused by the slow rotation of the windmill's 100-ft. blades.

But in an era of increasing energy shortage and escalating costs, the spectacle of a forest of suburban windmills might become as attractive for some people as Dutch windmills in a Rembrandt landscape. And the sound of a steadily humming windmill down the street could eventually prove to be the sweetest music that you could hear.

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