Mounce brothers dreaming big with windspires

Going green for Kevin Mounce and his two brothers is more about saving money and being smart rather than being part of a movement to save the planet.

In June, Barry, Britt and Kevin Mounce opened their Windspire franchise — Fort Smith Windspires — with the hopes of selling 30 of the 30-foot-tall electric generating Windspire’s within the first 12 months.

The Windspire is a product of Reno, Nev.-based Mariah Power, and the Mounce brothers’ franchise is a 175-mile ring around Fort Smith — plus they can sell in areas not covered by a franchise. The Windspire is a vertical axis wind turbine that generates power from the wind. At 30-feet tall and 4-feet wide, the Windspire operates silently and will provide energy directly to a home or business for at least 20 years.

Fort Smith Windspires sells two models. The high-wind version is made to produce a lot of power at consistently high winds and is for places like western Oklahoma or Kansas “where they have heavy winds almost all the time,” Kevin explained.

The second model is one more suited for the Fort Smith area. It can generate 1.2KWH of electricity at winds speeds of 8 miles per hour. In an average year, this model will produce about 1,500 KWH, or between 10% to 25% of what two people will use in an average home, Kevin said.

According to the federal Energy Information Administration, the average Arkansas household in 2007 used 1,118 KWH at an average price of 8.73 cents per KWH.

Also, the power generated from a spire can be hooked straight into the power grid, meaning that a home or business owner can be credited for those times with the spires produce more power than is being used. What’s more, they are built to fit within most municipal zoning laws and can be placed in residential areas.

“They take up about the same space as an average round picnic table, and the spires start at about 10 feet from the ground,” Kevin said.

But they aren’t cheap.

A windspire costs $7,700, and installation can add up to $2,500. However, Kevin says IRS rebate programs may refund up to 30% of the cost. Also, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has a program providing rebates to farmers. Farmers who qualify could see the cost of a windspire fully refunded through the IRS and USDA programs within 3-5 years, Kevin said.

Fort Smith Windspires recently installed a windspire at the new home of the River Valley Detachment #1248 Marine Corps League at Fort Chaffee. Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Ivy Owen introduced Kevin to Lee Stollard, senior vice commandant of the River Valley Detachment, and the detachment decided to buy a windspire. Kevin said the Marine Corps league received a “deep discount” and Fort Smith Windspires installed the device at no cost.

“We don’t normally install them ourselves, but that was volunteer work on our part,” Kevin said.

As for the goal of selling 30 windspires in the first year, well, that’s going slow. They’ve sold five, but remain hopeful based on the increasing number of calls.

The possibility of a “Brushy Mountain Green Electric Facility” also fuels the hope. Kevin said Joy and Bill Duvall are in the “very early” stages of investigating the construction of 200 windspires on 120 acres on the plateau of Brushy Mountain — near Paris and Magazine in Logan County. With 200 windspires, the facility could generate 10MW. If that’s a success, the facility could be home to 2,000 windspires generating 150MW a year. The initial start-up could cost $1.5 million.

The EIA reported that as of July 2009, Arkansas power producers generated 6,144 MW in the preceding 12 months, with 1,433MW coming from independent power producers.

Kevin said two windspires are scheduled to be installed on the Brushy Mountain site by December, with analysis on their performance complete by December 2010. Kevin said he and the Duvalls have talked to Arkansas Valley Electric Coop and Oklahoma City-based OG&E about a potential partnership, but they are in a wait-and-see mode.

“No one is against it. They’re (Arkansas Valley and OG&E) just waiting to see the data first, and I can understand that,” Kevin explained.