Winds of change come to Paris Hill

PARIS HILL — In 1847, Nancy Hubbard was given a gift by her husband, Paris town clerk Hiram Hubbard, making her the owner of the first sewing machine on Paris Hill.

That peddle-powered machine — still in working order, by the way — came down through the generations and today, it rests in the kitchen of Wini Mott, at the corner of Lincoln Street and Christian Ridge Road.

Having married into the Hubbard family through her late husband Schuyler, Wini has continued the tradition of bringing firsts to Paris Hill.  At precisely 4:05 p.m., on Monday, she threw the switch on the first windmill erected on Paris Hill.

At just 35-feet tall, the Skystream 3.7 is described by its maker, Southwest Windpower of Flagstaff, AZ, as a “residential power appliance.” 

Developed in collaboration with the U. S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Skystream windmill is designed for the private homeowner, or small business.  Popular Science magazine named it “Best of What's New” in 2006.

Late that year, the first model in the Oxford Hills — and thought to be the first one in Maine — went up not far from Mott’s home, on the King Hill property of Bill Dingle.

That unit was the first one installed by All-Season Home Improvement, of Augusta.  According to company owner Bob Greig, Wini’s is No. 141.  In between came the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport.

Demand for the Skystream technology has been so strong that, after the base unit and wiring was installed in late November, Wini had to wait until this week for the back-order of parts to catch up with her project.

But that hasn’t bothered Wini, who praised All-Season’s workers, soon after they finished putting up the windmill.

“I was very impressed with the quality of their work, and the neatness,” says Mott.

According to Grieg, demand for windmills has lowered the average install price from $30,000 just a few years ago to as little as $9,000 — although here in Maine they run closer to $13,000, because of shipping costs from Arizona, he says.

Southwest Windpower claims the unit, which reaches its peak 1,800 watt power production at 20 mph winds, can save homeowners as much as $650 on electrical bills.  Payback — when the savings surpasses the initial cost of construction can come in as little as seven to 13 years.

That may not seem quick enough for some homeowners, but it can come in handy if and when oil prices return to the stratosphere.  Wini, who now has oil-fired hot water, hopes to convert to electricity if the windmill proves effective.  For now, she’s simply excited for the day when she can go to her Central Maine Power (CMP) meter and watch the dial turn — backwards.

Under CMP’s net energy billing program, Wini, like Dingle before her, will get a credit on her electrical bill whenever she generates more power than she uses. 

“It’s a credit, and not so much a rebate, or a cash transaction,” says CMP Spokesman John Carroll, “because that would make her a power plant.”

Since the Skystream can generate as much as 400 to 600 kWh of power each month, and most houses use around 200 to 300 kWh, Wini should end up with a low, if not zero, bill most months.

At a minimum, it needs a steady wind of eight-miles per hour to move the turbine.

“That shouldn’t be a problem, the wind blows pretty hard up here,” says Wini.

The unit, which runs quietly, according to Dingle, actually shuts off if the wind makes it move too fast, capping out at 45 miles per hour.  It’s also designed to go with the flow, so to speak, rotating to catch the wind from any direction.

Asked which direction the wind comes from on Paris Hill, Wini laughs out loud.

“Any way it wants,” she says.

There are other amenities besides power generation for the windmill Wini has nicknamed Anemone — Greek for “wind flower” — in honor of the Greek cruise Wini sacrificed to be able to afford the windmill.

“I told the guys who put it in that I had already named it thinking, ‘Oh, they’ll say I’m a crazy old lady,’” Wini recalled, “but then they said, the office will be sending a birth certificate. 

“Then it was my turn to be surprised,” says Wini, with a wide smile.  “I thought, “They do that?”

One of the simple pleasures will be to simply watch the windmill in action.  Although Paris Hill has earned a reputation — undeserved Wini says — for being stuck in the 19th century, none of the neighbors has objected to the windmill.

“Believe me, I checked with all of them before I went and got the building permit,” Wini laughs.

Everyone, she says, has been very excited for the windmill to arrive.  Although windmills have been derided by many for supposedly detracting from the view, Wini says hers, with its three, six-foot long blades, is a lot more fun to look at that the telephone poles and transistor boxes that line Paris Hill streets.

In fact, Wini says, a half-dozen of here neighbors have already asked about getting Skystreams of their own.

 

Then, as if on cue, less than a half hour after the windmill went live, Wini’s phone rang.  On the other end — a neighbor wanting to know if Anemone was ready for visitors.

“Everybody wants to come see it,” Wini laughed.