Sun, wind systems work together

The water for the couple's home comes from a spring 210 feet below the house. To pump the water up that high, they installed a solar panel next to the spring box, shown here in stark contrast to the abandoned old farm house beyond. The pump pushes water through 900 feet of one-inch line from the 1,200-gallon lower reservoir to the 1,900-gallon upper reservoir above. On sunny days, it can move 160 gallons a day to help replenish the upper tank. (Recorder photo by Anne Adams) BLUE GRASS — Thinking of putting the sun and wind to work for your electric needs? Be prepared.

Modern technology has made it possible to power many things independent of major utilities, but capturing enough power for a household is not for everyone.

Polly Newlon and her husband, Keith Carson, spent years learning about what's available, and switched gears several times before they settled on the right way to get off the grid.

"One of the most important things I learned about this," Newlon says, "is that it's all very, very site-specific. You really need to have the ideal circumstances."

On the ladder, Matt Sherald of Power In My Back Yard headquartered in Thomas, W.Va., attaches the turbine blades with his helper, Robby. On his far right is the rigger from Valley Crane in Fishersville. The 40-ton crane had to be brought up the mile-long dirt drive to the home, and it took four months of waiting and rescheduling for the road to be in good enough shape. The crane lifted the 100-foot lattice-type tower on March 23. (Photo courtesy Keith Carson) Living off the grid is more common out West where there's plenty of sun and consistent wind, but it's more challenging on the East Coast.

This couple's Blue Grass home is situated in a perfect location to get sun all day — it's high enough not to be blocked by other ridges or homes; it has wide-open southern exposure, and enough wind to make the turbine blades spin. Newlon and Carson chose the mix of wind and solar, however, because there might not have been enough of one source to provide enough juice.

They also found the right consultant. His name is Matt Sherald, and his three-year-old company, Power In My Back Yard ("PIMBY"), is headquartered in Thomas, W.Va.

It takes 32, six-volt batteries to hold the power for the home. "The batteries are wet cell lead acid batteries, like the older car batteries that you had to add water to," Carson explains. "We need to check the water levels in each battery about once a month and add distilled water as necessary." The batteries cost the couple roughly $10,000 apiece, and are situated in a room above the garage where the power is converted to electricity usable in the home. (Photo courtesy Keith Carson) Sherald lives in Tucker County, W.Va., right under the area's first industrial-sized wind turbine utility. It fascinated him, he said. So in his search for a career change from a computer whiz, Sherald went out west and got educated about renewable energy, particularly wind power. He now installs wind turbines and solar panels for residences both on and off the grid in West Virginia, and western Virginia. Carson and Newlon, he said, were already well-educated about renewable power, which made his job easier. Their home, Sherald said, is a showcase for alternative energy systems. "They are an island unto themselves," he added. "Truly off the grid, making their own power … they went all in, and did some really neat stuff."

At the "nerve center" of the home — a room above the garage — the power from the wind turbine and solar panel are collected, converted to normal AC electricity, and distributed to the home. LED displays indicate the amount of power generated and stored. (Recorder photo by Anne Adams) PIMBY installed an ARE, "Abundant Renwable Energy" brand wind tower. It has three blades, and a directional "fin" on the back. It generates up to 2.5 kilowatts (2,500 watts) of energy per hour when the wind speed is 20-25 mph.

Should the winds get too high, the turbine is designed to shut down with braking mechanism. In addition, the turbine does something called "furling," which means it turns to reduce the resistance on the blades and increase their lifespan.

Sherald says its lifespan is expected to be 20-25 years with little maintenance, although the blades will be replaced at about the 10-year mark.

Keith Carson points to one section of pipes and gauges located in a small utility room at the back of the house. Carson and his wife, Polly Newlon, have a solar water pump system, a solar heating system, plus wind- and solar-generated electricity, all working together to give them the basics for daily living. (Recorder photo by Anne Adams) The turbine generates something called "wild" AC power because the speed of the blades varies with gusts of wind and the voltage is always changing. That current comes into the nerve center in the garage, gets converted to DC power, and is then stored in a bank of 32, six-volt batteries. When the house calls for power, the current from the batteries is changed to 120V AC power which runs to the circuit box in the house.

The couple elected to use propane for their dryer and stove, which eliminated the need for 220 power.

Last Friday, Carson read the inverter boxes, noticing the turbine had made 5 kilowatt hours of electricity in roughly 12 hours. So far, Carson has logged the best day at 14.8 kilowatt hours.

The enormous chimney in the home separates the kitchen/dining area from the living room, and serves as a stunning centerpiece to the house. It doesn't add much heat, but will provide the right ambiance. Built by the Grants of McDowell, a special vent was added inside the firebox to pull air from outside as needed instead of using up the warm air in the room. (Recorder photo by Anne Adams) Is it a lightning rod? Sherald says yes, but not anymore so than a big tree. It has several grounding wires connected to 10-food round rods, plus lightning protection built in.

The tower is secured at the bottom with legs embedded in a five-foot-deep concrete block, which counters the pull from the turbine.

Sherald also installed the couple's solar panel system in the front yard, which generates another 1,500 watts of electricity, and the one at the bottom of the knoll which powers the water pump. The photovoltaic panels collect sunlight, turning the photons into electrons for power.

This array of 48 evacuated tube solar collectors are what drive the hot water system. On a sunny day, the circulating antifreeze reaches temperatures of more than 150 degrees F, and will heat water in storage tanks to 145 degrees or more. Even on cloudy days, it will heat the fluid to 110 degrees when the air temperature is in the teens. (Recorder photo by Anne Adams) The solar array has a dual axis tracker, so it changes its orientation all day to face the sun, including its pitch up and down depending on whether the sun is higher or lower in the sky. "This increases its production a good 25-30 percent," he said. "And you just have to grease the gears about once a year."

The wind and solar power together are what Sherald calls a "hybrid" system, which takes advantage of the natural solar cycle here in the mountains. "You have less sun in the winter, but that happens to be when it gets windy," he said. "You get a balanced production over the course of the year."

Not everyone can take advantage of both, he said. "That property gets fantastic sun and great wind. It's a rare spot. Most people can get more benefit from solar; wind is a little more selective."

Matt Sherald, owner of PIMBY, served as the couple's main consultant for installing the hybrid system of solar and wind power. Here, he climbs the wind tower to disconnect the cables used by the crane to lift it into place. (Photo courtesy Keith Carson) Sherald says the electricity is also of a higher quality because there's a shorter distance for it to travel, and no transformer conversion taking place. "You're making it right where you use it," he said.

The couple also installed a solar water heating system to warm the home, and situated the house in such a way as to capture the sun's warm as much as possible.

Sherald says he's not worked on a home before where all these systems have been put together this way. "They spent a lot of time doing their homework," he said, "so they could really cut down for a smaller footprint on fossil fuels … It was well done. (Carson and Newlon) put a lot of thought into it, and it's a nice example of all this technology we're hearing about now."

All these systems did not come without considerable expense, however. "For the majority of people, the cost is prohibitive," Sherald says.

Newlon and Carson estimate they spent at least twice what they anticipated. In spite of the "payback" gains the renewable industry touts —the idea such equipment will pay for itself in savings to homeowners on traditional power — they say they won't live long enough to enjoy that benefit.

The solar hot water system installed by David Rasmussen of Parnassus was $17,300. The wind turbine and tower were $30,700, plus $1,200 for the crane to put it up. The solar electric system plus inverter, controller and batteries, was about $33,700. The solar water pump and panels, $5,800; all told, the couple spent nearly $90,000 to make their own electricity and heat, and pump their spring water to the house.

But, Newlon said, "We aimed for overkill power." They didn't want to be caught without enough, and installed enough for back-up should one of them fail.

For all that, the couple must still be frugal with their electricity. "Some off-the-gridders live closer to the edge," Sherald said. "Keith and Polly have a lot of power, but they still need to watch it."

There's one thing Sherald finds in common among those who choose to make their own power. "All those customers share a mindfulness about energy usage," he said. "They know what a kilowatt hour is, and what it can do for them. Most of us aren't aware of what we use, but these folks are very cognizant of energy, and their own habits."

He likens it to paying attention to the gas gauge in a car. "When you're full, your flush, but you have a finite tank of gas and you have to pay attention to that, like paying attention to your battery bank."

There's another thing Carson and Newlon also pay attention to: the fine feathered friends in their back yard. Commercial wind utilities are known to kill bats, songbirds, and large raptors. As active bird-lovers, Carson and Newlon have watched the ground beneath their wind turbine daily for any evidence the birds or bats nearby have been harmed. So far, they haven't found any. Newlon says the birds in their yard have learned to avoid the tower. Even a bald eagle perching nearby has avoided the blades. "So far, they all know it's there and they fly over it," she said.