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Easy and Breezy
Residential wind turbine generates interest and electricity
A wind turbine on Windy Hill Farm in Brentwood stands tall behind owner Wilbur Sensing. His wind turbine is the first on the NES system.
Photography by Jeffrey s. Otto
Wilbur and Lucy Sensing’s pastoral, 1830s Brentwood estate is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and with a name like Windy Hill Farm, the Sensings figured it was ideally suited for a windmill.
About six years ago, they began exploring the idea in earnest.
“My wife liked the old farm windmills that pump water for the farms, so we started out with that kind
of windmill in mind,” Wilbur Sensing explains. “But we found out that those kind of windmills are all gone with the wind.”
And while he had a hankering for a new-fangled, electricity-generating wind turbine, she didn’t like the looks of the space-age propeller.
“We delayed our project about four or five years waiting on her to change her mind,” he says.
In the end, Lucy Sensing relented, as evidenced by the slim, slightly curved blades gently slicing the sky from their perch atop a sleek, silver tower built on the high point of Windy Hill Farm.
Following the installation, Sensing set about getting power from his turbine flowing into the Nashville Electric Service grid – a process that included putting in a transformer next to the tower and running a line underground to a set of meters on the back side of an old-fashioned red barn.
One meter shows the power generated by the windmill. He gets 15 cents per kilowatt hour for any power generated. Another meter keeps track of power used, and he is charged about 12 cents per kilowatt-hour.
It’s a good deal when the wind blows.
“I tell people that so far we’ve gotten about $25 worth of electricity and $25,000 worth of publicity. We’re just hoping for more wind,” Sensing says with a laugh.
It’s true that middle Tennessee isn’t the windiest part of the state, but the Sensings’ SkyStream 3.7 residential turbine – which retails for around $5,000 and, with installation costs, can total more than $10,000 – is capable of producing power anytime wind speed reaches at least eight miles per hour. In windy weather, it has a potential output close to 1,000 kilowatt hours per month.
So far, his is the only wind turbine on the NES system.
“We’re kind of pioneers in this,” Sensing says.
Of course, not everyone can erect a wind turbine
in the backyard. But the Tennessee Valley Authority, through its Green Power Switch Generation Partners program, will purchase 100 percent of power generated by a qualifying photovoltaic (solar) or wind power system installed at a residence or business. (Participation is subject to the discretion of the local power distributor.)
Folks who can’t generate power but still want to support renewable energy can sign up to purchase green power in 150-kilowatt blocks – roughly 12 percent of the average household’s monthly usage –
for an extra $4 per block purchased.
Visit www.tva.gov/greenpowerswitch for more information.
Story by Carol Cowan
