Wilsonville-based small-scale wind manufacturer Xzeres is borrowing a strategy from solar power providers to offer wind power in a new way.
Wilsonville-based small-scale wind manufacturer Xzeres is borrowing a strategy from solar power providers to offer wind power in a new way.
Rather than making wind a part of the big, impersonal power grid, Xzeres offers consumers the option of buying all of the energy produced by a wind turbine installed on the consumer’s property.
Under the new business model that Xzeres hopes will increase its sales, the customer pays a price per kilowatt-hour. “We’re looking at local utility rates, and we’re offering energy at discount to that,’’ said David N. Baker, the company’s chairman.
After a certain period, depending on the rate of electricity production, the customer owns the wind machine. Depending on precisely how much the turbines in Valencia produce, ownership will revert to Mr. Cordola in eight to 10 years, Mr. Greco said.
Xzeres suggests that it will be more better equipped than its potential customers at early steps like assessing the wind speed at a site, including the effects of nearby buildings, and estimating the output of energy. “If it doesn’t financially pencil for the customer, we would tell him that,’’ Mr. Greco said.
If the site doesn’t make economic sense for the customer, it will not make sense for Xzeres either, he said.
Read more at the New York Times.
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