Sipping on the power of wind
Peconic winery will become first on the North Fork to install wind turbine
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Albert Harsch (from left), director of corporate relations for Eastern Energy Systems, Osprey's Dominion owner Bud Koehler and EES vice president Jeffrey Lang clown around during last Thursday's ground-breaking ceremony for the vineyard's wind turbine project. Osprey's Dominion will be the first North Fork vineyard to harness wind power.
That's because the Peconic vineyard will be the first in the area to install a wind turbine come next spring, and co-owner Bud Koehler celebrated that with a groundbreaking ceremony last Thursday.
"I thought this was a cleaner way to go," Mr. Koehler said, explaining why he chose wind over solar power. "Solar would require me to put up panels on my building, and I was a little skeptical about attaching them to my roof."
Mr. Koehler commissioned Eastern Energy Systems of Mattituck to install a 100-foot-tall, 20-kilowatt wind turbine on his property, which is projected to cost $144,000.
Mr. Koehler said Osprey's Dominion does not have federal grants coming in, unlike Paumanok Vineyards in Aquebogue, which recently received a grant to install solar panels under the Rural Energy for America Program.
But a Long Island Power Authority rebate and a federal tax incentive will reduce costs significantly in time, Mr. Koehler said, and he'll save nearly $8,000 annually in energy costs.
Mr. Law was one of many to attend the ceremony last Thursday. Others included 1st District Assemblyman Marc Alessi (D-Wading River); Gordian Raacke, executive director of Renewable Energy Long Island; and Southold Town's deputy supervisor, Phillip Beltz.
Mr. Koehler has been powering his ground-maintenance equipment with biodiesel fuels since 1999, and he's been trying since 2004 to get the necessary permits for a windmill at his winery, he said.
"But the town would always turn it down," he said. "They would always say that a windmill is too obstructive."
David Page and Barbara Shinn of Shinn Estate Vineyards in Mattituck also have been guaranteed a REAP grant for their planned wind power system, but have not yet been able to get a building permit for the turbine due to a 300-foot setback requirement that would limit the cost-effectiveness of the wind power, Mr. Page said.
A big part of Eastern Energy Systems' job, said Albert Harsch, the company's director of business development, is to educate communities on how wind technology works and to clear up some of the myths out there.
"The myth about how [wind turbines] kill birds -- the percentage is vastly overstated," he said. "More birds died in the Exxon Valdez crash than by any wind turbine that will ever be put up. I like to say that, because wind energy separates us from our dependence on oil."
Jamie Minnick, president of East Energy Systems, called wind power "a new technology that is available to eliminate costs."
"And by eliminating costs, you have the ability to create new jobs and create a new economy that works for the environment and works for the country," he said.
Mr. Law echoed those sentiments in his closing statements before shovels were put in the ground.
"This is not only about reducing our dependence on fossil fuels but about creating jobs. We don't have Grumman or Fairchild anymore, so we don't have a defense-related industry anymore," he said. "It's an exciting day to be here, because the entire world is focused on our energy challenges."
eschultz@timesreview.com
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