Daniel Henline, superintendent of installation, of Fresco Solar, installs cast resin blades on a 52-foot wind turbine at a Morgan Hill home Friday. This is the first residential grade energy generating wind turbine in the south county.
John and Diane Scrempos see dollar signs in the wind, and they're the first in the county.
Just outside southern Morgan Hill last Friday, the couple became Santa Clara County's first owners of a residential wind turbine connected to PG&E's grid when a crane in their backyard erected a 45-foot steel pole topped with three 6-foot blades. Parts, labor, permits and all, the couple spent about $20,000 on the project, but the state owes them a $4,100 rebate, and the installer said he expects the 1,225-pound, maintenance-free contraption to pay for itself within five to eight years.
But money was not why John and Diane Scrempos came up with the idea. It was a combination of Al Gore and the Alaskan coast, where they witnessed the collapse of an icy escarpment on a boat cruise last June.
"When you go and see the glaciers, you think that you have to do something. How could you not worry about what the future is going to be like?" said Diane, who has two sons with her husband and six grandchildren.
"When we were on the boat cruise, we actually saw some (glaciers) falling, which really reaffirmed that we've got to get (alternative energy) moving," said Scrempos, 63, a retired building maintenance supervisor for the city of Milpitas.
While he will undoubtedly save money in the long run, John Scrempos, who has paid PG&E about $250 per month during the summer and about $500 per month during the winter, said he is still taking a chance because wind data in the area is limited, according to the installer, Sean Kenny, CEO of Fresco Solar and Fresco Frames in Morgan Hill.
"When it comes to pay-back, it's easy with solar because we know how much light and darkness there is, so it's an easy calculation, but with wind - well, winds are unknown. There's not a lot of data," Kenny said.
That is why Kenny has been taking wind samples at the Scrempos' lot, but he - and anyone else who has lived in the area for a while - said it's common knowledge that winds howl through Coyote Valley every summer afternoon. This is when electricity rates are coincidentally higher, Kenny said, which means "you get the best wind at the best possible time" to get PG&E credit. Any excess energy the Scremposes generate will roll back their meter by flowing back into PG&E's grid, but the energy company will never write the couple a check for producing more energy than they use.
But making money wasn't on John Scrempos' mind when he returned from Alaska, whereupon the San Francisco native spent September and October looking for someone like Kenny. Although Kenny had never installed a wind system before, he said was always up for an eco-friendly challenge.
Now, four months later, the two have finally completed the inconvenient course of securing county approval.
"There was a lot of time spent with the county going back and forth," said Kenny Friday morning as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "They should make it easier (for others)."
To satisfy nervous county officials, Kenny had to hire structural and civil engineers to inspect the windmill's extensive concrete foundation and a geotechnical engineer to certify the soil. To cover all their bases, though, the county also made Kenny track down the welding certificates of the two metal workers in Omaha, Neb., who welded the 950-pound steel shaft.
"I'm just relieved that it's done," said John Scrempos, whose new windmill immediately complemented the miniature windmill in his backyard, the painted wooden garden birds with propellers for wings and the two compost barrels behind his garden shack.
Now all that's left is the final inspection, Kenny said, as he stood smiling next to the Scremposes, shading his face from the late-morning sun as a few neighbors 'oohed' and 'ahhed' at the green backyard marvel.
"I'm glad to be a part of this," said Lupe Dejesus, who strolled over from her house down the street. "I mean, how'd they find out about this? It's definitely something I'll be asking about in the future."
Valorie Matsumoto lives immediately next door and agreed: "I'm very proud of them for forging ahead like this," she said.
Although Matsumoto's property abuts the Scrempos', the county did not require the latter to consult with Matsumoto, or any other neighbors, because they just had to make sure that if the windmill falls, it does so within their property. But the steel giant would never even come close to Matsumoto's yard because it sits closer to the unoccupied, wild-flower laden land of the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
Aside from the Scrempos' wind turbine, there have been nine other permits issued in the past 10 years, but none of those were for grid-connected turbines, according to Kenny, a former General Electric engineer. There will be more to come, though, since Kenny and the county have learned the wind ropes together. Kenny, a licensed contractor registered with the California Energy Commission, is already set to install his next residential turbine in San Martin on behalf of Arizona-based Southwest Wind Power, the maker of the Scrempos' Skystream turbine.
Now the retired grandparents will surely have question-generating conversations when their six grandchildren visit for backyard barbecues. Maybe they can even convince one of them that wind power's a good idea, too, for their generation.
"The only way it's going to work is if a lot of people do this," Scrempos said as he and his wife gazed at their newest lawn ornament and waited for the wind.
Chris Bone Chris Bone covers Gilroy government for South Valley Newspapers. Reach him at 847-7109 or e-mail him.
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