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Wind turbine to power town of Delavan bed and breakfast

The wind turbine at the Green Leaf Inn in Delavan Township is believed to be the largest privately owned turbine of its kind. Dan Plutchak/staff.

DELAVAN TOWNSHIP -- What is possibly the largest privately owned wind turbine in the United States now rises high above the tree line along Highway 50 in Delavan Township.

"It's beautiful when the sun comes up and hits it," says Fritz Kreiss, co-owner of the Green Leaf Inn.

Kreiss and his wife, Catherine McQueen, want to put Walworth County on the map as a center of sustainable, green living. The wind turbine is just one visible element of that philosophy.

The turbine, a 50kW Endurance Wind Power E-3120, became fully operational earlier this month.

"We're already producing electricity," Kreiss said.

Kreiss estimates that the Green Leaf Inn’s turbine will generate 112,000 kilowatt hours of electricity every year, which will meet much of the Inn’s anticipated electric load.

The Green Leaf Inn will incorporate a variety of green power sources beyond wind, including solar, geothermal and biomass.

“Our goal is net-zero, which means that we feed the grid at least as much as we use it,” Kreiss was quoted as saying in a news release. “For every day that we have to take power from the grid because of low on-site generation, we give back at least as much power on the days when all systems are running at peak efficiency.”

Kreiss says that later this month, the curious can log on to the inn's Web site, www.thegreenleafinn.com, and track real-time information such as wind speed and the amount of power being produced.

The turbine’s monopole rises 120 feet, to catch as much wind as possible, with the blades arcing almost thirty feet higher at the top of their rotation. Kreiss says this part of Wisconsin is a Class 3 wind area, which translates to an average wind speed of around eleven miles an hour, the minimum for a turbine that feeds the electric grid.

The Endurance E-3120 is one of a new generation of quiet, highly efficient wind turbines, and the Green Leaf Inn is only the second location in America to feature it. The owners believe it is the largest privately owned wind turbine in the country.

Net-zero status is an important goal for the Green Leaf Inn. Kreiss believes that distributed generation, where every house provides as much electricity as possible on site, is a key to making green energy work in America.

So is the energy-efficient washer and the ‘smart’ sensor that turns off the lights when you’re not in the room. You simply don’t get the massive generation that fossil fuels provide from green energy sources, so you’ve got to be opportunistic and look for every chance to reduce your reliance on electricity from the public wires. Net-zero should be a goal for every new building, and the Green Leaf Inn will be a showcase.”

The purchase of the turbine was aided by a $100,000 grant from Wisconsin’s Focus On Energy program, as well as federal incentives that will cover 30 percent of the cost. Kreiss says there’s a good Web site to find out what’s available at the federal, state and local level everywhere in the country. It’s www.dsireusa.org and he strongly recommend people check it out.