At about this time next year, when another brisk Alberta clipper sails down from Canada to spike fresh chill in the wintry air, John Kooyman expects to be basking in a windfall.
Over objections of a neighbor, Kooyman won approval from the Cottage Grove City Council this month to install a residential wind turbine on his 5-acre lot on the city's western edge.
The turbine, which will produce about double what his home needs for electricity, will be 100 feet tall, with three 13-foot blades. By comparison, that 113-foot total height is slightly taller than the 103-foot turbine on the campus of Macalester College. Both are dwarfed by the 166-foot model installed at the headquarters of Great River Energy's company headquarters in Maple Grove. And the giant wind turbines at Xcel Energy Co.'s Grand Meadow wind farm top 250 feet, with 122-foot blades.
Kooyman studied Macalester's turbine carefully before going ahead.
"Actually, my father-in-law was the one who got me interested in this -- he's kind of a forward-thinker," Kooyman said. He expects to start laying the foundation for the Canadian-built turbine this spring, and have it going by summer.
"I think more and more people are thinking about sustainable resources and cutting back on their energy use," Kooyman said. "We're realizing that less pollution is a better thing."
At the same time, he added, "I'm no eco-angel -- maybe about a tenth of the light bulbs in my house are the [compact flourescents]. I have an old truck that gets maybe 13 miles to the gallon. I do a lot of bad things, but this will hopefully offset that."
A study of his property found the wind speed averages about 13 1/2 miles per hour, Kooyman said. Once the wind speed hits 12 mph, the 10-kilowatt turbine reaches its full capacity. That yields an estimated 24,000 kilowatts a year, which Kooyman figures is about twice the amount he needs for his home. The leftover electricity will be sold back to Xcel Energy Co.
