by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
There may never come a day when Jacksonville motorists come around a corner and are greeted by fields of wind mills like you can see in areas of the Midwest.
However, if you have driven past the intersection of Atlantic Boulevard and St. Johns Bluff Road recently you have probably noticed the three wind spires that seemed to pop up overnight. They are on the property that houses a new auto body shop and there’s a Shell gas station on the corner.
The spires were built by Mariah Power and installed locally by Frank Erickson, who owns Erickson Electricity. According to Erickson, the spires are 30 feet tall and produce 1.2 kilowatts of electricity each. That’s the equivalent of 12, 100-watt light bulbs.
“On top of the building there is a 25-kilowatt solar array that’s equally impressive,” said Erickson.
The spires were installed a few weeks ago and Erickson says most of the energy generated from their rotation comes from air movement created by planes landing and taking off at Craig Airport, which is across the street. Some is generated by natural wind and a little more by cars. Erickson said the spires will only work in certain areas of town — primarily the Beach, where it’s generally windier.
“The air is compressed there because of the airport runway,” he said. “It’s not the best area for wind, but it has definitely created awareness.”
The electricity generated by the wind spires and solar array doesn’t power anything on the property. Instead, it’s turned over to JEA which then credits the property owner through its Net Metering Program. The program is aimed at helping residential and commercial customers who choose to add renewable generation to their homes or businesses.
According to JEA’s Web site, “Customers with their own renewable generation offset the electricity they would have purchased from JEA. Customer-owned renewable generation up to 100 kW is allowed under JEA’s Net Metering Policy. Renewable generation exceeding that amount would not be eligible as it requires a specific purchase power agreement with JEA.”
The program works through the following steps:
• Customers are charged for the metered kWh received from JEA during each month.
• Customers are credited for the metered kWh sent to JEA each month.
• Customers accrue any credit balance month to month through the end of the calendar year.
• At the end of the calendar year, JEA will pay out any credit balance due to the customer.
• Customers can track credit balances on their monthly billing statement.
• The credit dollar amount will be calculated using the customer’s retail energy rate, demand, fuel, environmental and conservation charges (“Retail Rate”) per kWh.
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