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en on ooo moge ~/ .. Pace 16 _ _ . = _ _ _ THr InpepENDENT _ _ ho 5 #~. AUSUST 8, 2007 oys ; ky rriemnds & NEIGHEOURS ic‘ A Colborne couples fiveâ€"year fight to get off the grid through the use of windmills ts by Adam Huras l i . V??fi plan to give up. 3 san TiE Noerencent "We paid all that money ¢ es THEY Tower 80 ®eet asove _ to truck them up here and 5x :{ the fields of Robert and get them installed, it was a * Heather Wgtt’s Colborne fair investment. So Tjust d ) propterFt},;1 sitting 250 feet kepton arguing with them t ‘ apart with a wing span of 32 _ until they finally figured I & | fee& Ee wouldn‘t go away and then | § This is just something . they finally did come out * 3 | Â¥ ve always been interested _ with 1t," he said. e m, just the fact that you can Tt was the provincial govâ€" + â€"â€" 4 gfnerate electricity using ernment and their anâ€" E e process of wind power . nouncement that they 4 It‘s interesting," said Mr. supported green power and Watt Who also runs a heating _ alternate energy that proved. 8 and air conditioning busiâ€" _ the difference. § ness. "Hydro bills on this "Basically it came down place ave fairly large so we â€" to it being legislated by the _ | are hoping that when I do government to allow it," said : | eventually get them up and _ Mr. Watt. "Since, there are 4 running we will be able to starting to be a few more 1 cut it down." Targe wind farms created." 3 The problem is that they The process then faced § Sit, upmoving and unproâ€" another stop in the goal to go ductlvlzle of tlinleir purpose, _ off thegrid. Setups tfi power something the two windâ€" sources aided sma wind mills that should be generatâ€" systems for connection as ing the property‘s power well as larger commercial have done for the greater wind farms; but nothing speâ€" part of the last five years. â€" cificto Mr. Watt‘s equipment f 9e The idea seemed simple but _ which fell somewhere in be: A has resulted in years of turâ€" tween. 1i [- 7 bulence with hydro compaâ€" His windmills being conâ€" d 3 nies leaving the fans still not _ structed in the 19803 by a ' Ir in operation. \_ company in the Unitedâ€" x J The Watts own Nature‘s _ States thatisno longer in exâ€" f V Way Greenhouses and â€" istence presented a unique T | Stained Glass Works, a large . design that was only proâ€" warehouse type building on _ duced by that particular me~ â€" & Purdy Road. With electricity _ business. * l m bills cosaing ai;n the neigthh- gsntlg sig]gleâ€"phasg po&ver e . * aw. bourhood of $700 a mon made the fans too hard to e f | and $10,000 a winter, the fass _ control. The Watt‘s were / i o cination in wind power and . finding that they would have P e the ability to reduce that cost _ to start the fans manually A . 4 > a seemed like a smart idea. /. and then shut them down /d i 3 "Ifound the windmills on. _ each day automatically, but 4 ; J , * a website from a wind farm . then they were unable to R f' i# se / in California. They were takâ€" . restart them in anautomatic T ol ing them down and being _ fashion. shi P ol paid by the federal governâ€" "It meant you had to be s s | ment there to dismantle t!lereto start them up all the y mA them, refurbish them, sell . time and to keep an eye on 4 /’ o | ; f them off and replace_them them because they weren‘t > J P with bigger ones," said Mr. easg tl\Zr covx‘}trt(tfl tilfe 1:shpeed of," / f a Watt. Sai : Watt. " ey were A 3A M | f But that was over five running on phase‘three i e 4 j f ears ago. power they would do that all 2 e j P "The first two years . automatically" <g A 7 ydro basically spent saying The end result currently o w 94 no, they are not going to â€" has Mr. Watt installing a ? o " ow me to put it up, period‘ . phaseâ€"three power service, 11â€" F t was never going to hapâ€" running wiring from the= / M L en," said Mr Watt "It was road. Threephaseelectric 3 W e 1 i olitics because it was . power is a common method _ - e 11ér11’t at the time when Onâ€" of electric power transmisâ€" 'W'HMMmummmmmhmmmmmm Five years later they are still not operating. ario Hydro was switching . sion. A system mainly used windmills cangenerate up to Despite being weeks â€" like I have here, it will cost _ self lucky to have, even after ver to Hydro One and when . to power motors and many 60 kilowatts an hour, the â€" away from having the twin _ you about $75,000," said Mr. _ the constant headaches he ey decided to do the switch . other devices, the perk of a Watt‘s facilities only needing â€" propellers working, Mr Watt _ Watt. "That‘s with new. has endeayored. ver they cancelled all priâ€" _ threeâ€"phase system lies in 25 kilowatts an hour at most. doesn‘t believe the technoloâ€" . equipment because thereare Nature‘s Way Greenhousâ€" ate generation connections . using less co_nductog materiâ€" The excess would then be EY is affordable for the averâ€" _ very few of these old sysâ€" . es and Stained Glass Works at weren‘t in place all _ al to transmit eleg:trlc power spld back onto the grid at . age person just yet. tems left that aren‘t in use." _ is a stopon the Rural Ramble ady." than equivalent singleâ€"phase _ eight cents a kilowatt, turnâ€" "If you‘re looking in Buying his two at $3,000 _ tour, August 18 and 19. The Already investing in the . or twoâ€"phase sources. Ing an expensive bill into. today‘s market to hook up _ including transport prices is _ Watts will host windmill enâ€" indmills, Mr. Watt didn‘t When working, the two _ monthly profit. one windmill in a system _ somethingheconsiders himâ€" . ergy d:scussmnrs./ e â€"2