By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

GREENVILLE, Ohio — For demonstration of a Skystream 3.7 backyard wind generator, the Jefferis Family Farm in Greenville is the place to visit June 30, from 1-4 p.m. The 3.7 is the first small wind generator designed specifically for utility-connected residential use.

“The product came out at the end of 2006 and we were right on board with them,” said Joe Jefferis, farm manager.

“We got one of the first turbines to come off the line. Our installation is the first one in Ohio. We got it up and connected on April 13, and we are pleased at how well it is performing and how quiet it is.

“In the first month it generated a balance with Dayton Power and Light of $7.50. That’s progress. It’s exciting.”

“The Skystream 3.7 fits on a 33- to 100-foot pole in your backyard,” said Skystream co-founder Andrew Kruse. “The three rotor blades are about 12 feet.”

Skystream 3.7 was developed by Southwest Windpower, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In the Midwest, the wind generator costs about $10,000 installed, Kruse said. Many grants and loans are available for wind power projects.

“In the Midwest, the average winds are about 12 mph,” he said. “It will generate 400 kilowatt hours a month. It connects directly to the house.

“When the wind blows, the house automatically uses the energy from the wind generator first and it takes any excess energy that it needs from the electrical grid.”

“Sometimes when the wind is producing more energy than the house consumes, then the meter will spin backwards,” Kruse said.
“The consumer can use that as a credit when there is no wind.”
But there is almost always a breeze blowing at Jefferis Family Farm, and that is what started Joe Jefferis thinking about wind power.

“I knew there was a good wind resource, so I started researching different wind generator products,” he said. “I had a couple of companies come out and do site surveys, and they reaffirmed my belief that it was a good location for the wind resource.”

The farm’s wind resource is a part of family legend – the remains of a Thomas Edison Windmill are in the attic of the old farmhouse. “The legend is that my father’s uncle Chad had bought it from the Sears catalog in the late 1920s,” Jefferis said. “The first electric light bulb in the house was run by that windmill on top of the house.”

The Jefferis family has owned the 90-acre farm since 1824 and it is registered as an Ohio Century Farm. The family has not lived there for about 50 years. Joe took over management in 2001 when his father Robert Sr.’s health began to fail.

“I took over managing the farm and the farmhouse as a rental property,” said Jefferis, who holds the farm in trust with his brother, Steve.

The brick used to build the farmhouse was made on the land in the 1840s. But not much maintenance was done in the last 50 years, and it has no central heat.

Jefferis said he could not, in good conscience, rent it that way, so he began researching ways to heat the home. He met Matt Dolson of Southwest Windpower and learned about the Skystream 3.7.

The Jefferis Family Farm is located at 1861 Stingley Road in Greenville. To learn more, visit www.odod.state.oh.us/cdd/oee and click on grants and loans. Also, visit www.skystreamenergy.com or call Powerflo, LLC at 937-361-4944.