ANDERSON, Ind. -- A new wind turbine at a Gas America station in Anderson, Ind., is expected to turn the facility from a net user of energy into a net gainer, its designer, Keith Tully, told The Herald Bulletin. The turbine, which was built into a pre-existing sign, was unveiled late last week with representatives from the city and Gas America in attendance.
Tully's Fishers, Ind.-based Power Wall Systems company designed and installed the turbine, a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) that will help generate power for the station.
He said VAWTs are virtually [image-nocss] noiseless and can convert wind coming from any direction. According to Tully, VAWTs are capable of producing 10 kilowatt hours per year.
The turbine has yet to be turned on as it is pending the city's inspection, the report said.
Tully said VAWTs have been around for 20 years, but no one has thought to combine the technology with store signs. He said the Gas America sign is the first of its kind in the country.
"It's a combination of two things that work well together," he told the newspaper.
According to the Power Wall Systems website, the company was started in 2009 with the goal of making wind energy affordable and accessible; however, wind turbines by themselves do not provide instant payback to consumers because of their initial costs, the company website said.
Tully's solution was to combine advertising and green energy by installing the VAWTs into preexisting signs, as signs such the one at Gas America already have the structural support and elevation necessary to house a wind turbine.
He approached Tom Spegal, maintenance supervisor for Gas America, several months ago about the project. The end result, Spegal said, turned out "great."
To create space for the turbine, Tully had to lower a portion of the sign about 20 inches. The difficult part, said the report, was finding a material for the turbine's blade that was resilient yet able to be moved by the wind. Tully went with Lexan polycarbonate (bullet-proof glass), which he said will "drag" on performance a bit, but will be able to hold up through the years.
For the turbine's coupler, Tully went with Anderson-based Hy-Tech Machining Systems, the report said.
Tully is exploring interests from two banks and a national billboard advertising firm, said the paper.
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