The 100-foot structure stands on the land of Jeff Nichols, next to his residence and attached business, Cato Country Auto. It’s his latest venture to save energy and money.

“I like to reduce expenses. My wife thinks I’m kind of fanatical about it,” he said.

Now in its second month of operation, the windmill covers Nichols’ energy bill, which averages around $200 a month. It also could provide Nichols an extra bit of cash after the initial expense of $31,000 is paid for.

The windmill’s peak output is 20 kilowatts, or 20,000 watts, of energy with a wind speed of 25 mph. The energy level remains at its maximum if the wind speed goes above 25 mph. A minimum wind speed of 8 mph is needed for the windmill to produce any energy.

The windmill consists of three fiberglass blades shaped like airplane wings. Each blade is 15.5 feet long and 31 feet in diameter when in motion. The tail orients the blades into the wind.

“It’s windy here everyday. If you look at a wind map of Wisconsin, there is an area between Lake Winnebago and Lake Michigan where the wind is higher than the rest of the state,” Nichols said.

When it is really windy, the structure produces four times the amount of energy used in the home and business, he said.

Cost and value

The total structure cost Nichols around $26,000 with tax and freight charges. He spent an additional $5,000 in miscellaneous expenses such as concrete and wiring.

“In order to save costs, I wanted to do all the installation myself,” he said.

A windmill with installation would have cost between $45,000 to $50,000, Nichols said.  

To install the windmill, Nichols had to be connected to the utility grid to “energize it.”

“If the utility power goes down, my windmill goes down,” he said. 

With the connection to the utility grid, any energy that Nichols does not use is made available to the energy company.

In Wisconsin, any person that puts up renewable energy — up to 20 kilowatts in capacity — gets what is called net metering. The windmill meter will run backwards and any energy that the owner does not use (for personal use) is credited at retail cost.

“So days with no wind, it takes from the reserve,” Nichols said.

If the windmill is rated more than 20 kilowatts, the owner falls into a different bracket and excess energy is bought back at wholesale price.

Current retail price per 1 kilowatt of energy is 8.4 cents, while wholesale is around 3 cents, Nichols said.

Over a 25-day period, from Feb. 27 to March 23, Nichols produced an excess of 418 kilowatts. For his shop and home, Nichols estimates he uses 65 kilowatts per day or 1,625 kilowatts over 25 days.

At 8.4 cents a kilowatt, his electric bill would be around $136.

The excess at 8.4 cents a kilowatt is $35 for a grand savings of $171.

“My expectations were that it would cover my (electric) bill,” he said.

Even with the rebate, Nichols will experience a long payback period for his investment.

“What I tell my wife is we pre-paid our electric bill for the next 15 years,” Nichols said.

“When I’m retired, I won’t have an electric bill.”

Installation

Nichols spent more than two years researching the project through books and the Internet.

To see if the investment was worth it, he built a small-scale windmill that he hooked up to a forklift battery. The windmill produced a maximum of 400 watts (0.5 kilowatt).

“It confirmed the wind was strong because after three months outside it broke,” he said.

The miniature model also showed Nichols that if he wanted a windmill that would make a difference in energy production, he needed to buy a commercial model, not make one himself.

In August 2003, Nichols purchased the windmill, a Jacobs Wind Energy System, from Bay Winds, Green Bay, a dealer for Wind Turbine Industries Group, Prior Lake, Minn.

The windmill took eight weeks to arrive, so in the meantime Nichols dug the ground holes needed to install the three-legged tower, which took him more than 60 hours.

The holes were 3-feet in diameter and 8-feet deep. In the bottom, the hole needed to bell out 6-feet across to give the windmill footing. His 15-year-old son helped him dig the holes.

“I would fill a bucket full of dirt. My son (would hoist the bucket on a rope and) dump the dirt into a wheelbarrow,” he said.

“I paid him for it. He wouldn’t do it without pay.”

The last four- to five-feet was difficult for Nichols to dig. The soil in the area contains limestone and there were a lot of rocks, he said.

The windmill finally arrived in October, on a semi-truck.

“It looked like a big erector set,” Nichols said.

The only work he hired out were the nine-yards of cement needed for the foundation and a 100-ton crane.

Nichols put the windmill together on the ground and the height of the crane was needed to erect it in the sky. From start to finish, Nichols put in more than 200 hours of labor including all the wiring from the top of the windmill to inside the garage and home.

The windmill was visible in the sky before Christmas, but Nichols officially “flipped the switch” to make it fully operational Feb. 8.

Noise, maintenance

The windmill is relatively quiet.

When one of Nichols’ neighbors heard he was building the windmill, concerns were expressed that noise from it may disturb nearby horses.

But the neighbor discovered that the windmill didn’t disturb anybody, Nichols said.

“On a real windy day it makes noise, but (it’s) about the same as leaves blowing,” he said.

The windmill does require some maintenance. The tower will need to be climbed once a year for miscellaneous upkeep such as greasing the bolts, Nichols said.

The windmill is not the only energy saving venture Nichols has embarked on.

All of the light bulbs in his home and business are compact florescent. According to the EnergyStar Web site, a compact fluorescent light bulb uses 66 percent less energy than a standard incandescent bulb and lasts up to 10 times longer. Nichols also has installed a waste oil furnace in his shop, which transforms the oil drained from cars he works on into heat.

For more information about windmills like Nichols’, call (920) 257-2529 or visit www.baywinds.com.