.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
It’s almost too easy to say that a powerful wind was blowing in James McCain Jr.’s imagination when he decided to launch a new business. Too easy, true, but accurate.

McCain is an animated 26-year-old who surprised his family a couple of years ago by announcing that he was putting his home and college education fund on the line to finance Innovative Kinetics, a Des Moines business that sells and installs wind turbines, solar energy equipment and biodiesel systems.

He is a true believer in the notion of sustainability. He frequently launches into his philosophy of how the world of energy could, should and will operate. A second later, he will veer into a conversation about the environment-preserving logic of passenger rail systems from Des Moines.

He could be on to something. Renewable energy as a business is catching a tail wind in Iowa and across the nation.

A wind-energy industry trade organization predicts a 30-fold increase over the next five years in the number of businesses manufacturing, selling and installing renewable energy systems, especially those tapping the wind and the sun.

In Iowa, that is an increase from a number that is difficult to determine. McCain guesses that he has little competition in his market niche within a 200-mile radius of Des Moines. Some companies have popped up, only to have difficulty obtaining wind turbines and filling orders.

The Iowa Energy Center has approved 23 loans for small wind systems since 1996, but that number could represent one-quarter, one-fifth or one-third of the small turbines in the state, the center’s Keith Kutz said.

At present, there is no trade group or state agency keeping track of the numbers.

McCain and others have their eye on the future.

Wind energy is a “cottage industry that’s actually getting hot right now,” said Greg Watkins of the Iowa Office of Energy Independence. “This is just the beginning of the race.”

Small wind

McCain’s focus is in a niche called “small wind,” a description of wind turbine systems that generate 2 to 20 kilowatts (kW) of electricity to power homes, small businesses and farm operations.

That standard also is purely parochial, used by various state agencies and trade groups that track the renewable energy industry. A trade organization, the American Wind Energy Association, defines small wind as systems that produce no more than 100 kW of power.

Such systems might be appropriate for large farms, especially those with hog and cattle operations, but for residential and small business use, they would be overkill, Kutz said.

“A 10 kW (wind turbine) in a good location would provide way more power than the average homeowner in Iowa would need,” he said.

Over the last two years, McCain’s company has installed 14 wind turbine systems, each generating 10 kW or less of power, at homes and small businesses across the state. He currently has five operating in Greater Des Moines.

A crew that consists largely of McCain, a cousin and brother pieces together the components, digs the large hole in the ground required for a concrete footing and hoists the support towers that can range from 30 feet to 90 feet in height. Licensed electricians are hired to connect the systems to the electric utility grid.

McCain also handles the bureaucratic details of renewable energy, such as obtaining permits for the placement of towers and checking codes and even housing development covenants to make sure wind towers and solar panels are permitted.

In addition, he can walk homeowners and businesses through the array of low-interest loans and tax incentives that have been created by state and federal governments as well as private initiatives by utility companies to promote the use of renewable energy.

The family affair is nice, but McCain said he is busy enough to employ 10 people.

And he has discovered that being on the ground floor of an emerging industry has additional demands.

McCain has become a speechmaker, urging planners and designers and politicians to keep renewable energy in their thoughts. Politics, he said, can delay installation of a wind turbine by six to nine months.

Watkins said the industry is hamstrung by a variety of issues. The Iowa Office of Energy Independence has a legislative agenda that includes simplifying the interconnect agreements that must be completed between utility companies and private producers of wind and solar power, developing what amounts to a utility cost rebate called net metering that is more favorable to consumers, and establishing certification standards for people installing and maintaining wind systems.

At present, an industry trade group provides a certification program, but there is a need for legislated standards and regulations, Watkins and McCain said.

Philosophy and passion

For his part, McCain is happy to have government bodies lead the charge for improvements in the industry.

“There are nuances to the political process that I’m not familiar with,” he said.

That might be because politics is about power and McCain’s approach to the business is more about philosophy and passion.

If the state were looking for an advocate for its standing as a top producer of renewable energy, McCain would make a good fit.

“It’s the next step for us as people,” he said. “It’s an actual solution to our energy issues, and it’s long-term.

“It was basically passion that drove me to where I’m at.”

McCain believed so much in the business that after being turned down by banks and private investors to supply the funds to start Innovative Kinetics, he decided to refinance his Des Moines residence, use his college savings, money that was intended to go toward a degree in environmental engineering after he graduated from Des Moines Area Community College, and tap some angel investors in his family for the $60,000 needed to get the business off the ground.

“I’m making a living,” he said.

Eric and Anita Christensen hired Innovative Kinetics to install a 2.5 kW system at their acreage in Warren County.

Eric Christensen is an actuary for Principal Life Insurance Co., and as such, he likes to piece together the numbers of energy usage and savings that the turbine provides.

From a remote receiver that plugs into a computer, he can monitor wind speed and the number of kilowatts being consumed at any given moment.

“You can track it in as much detail as you want,” Christensen said.

He knows whether he is pulling electricity from MidAmerican Energy Co. or from the wind turbine spinning west of his kitchen window and above a small barn.

“I’m not going to make a killing off of this,” he said.

The turbine blades start to spin at a wind speed of about 11 mph and shut down in a 65 mph wind. The system’s single 50-foot support pole will occasionally bow in a stiff wind, but it is designed to withstand tornado-class winds.

In its operating range, the turbine provides roughly 300 of the family’s monthly usage of 850 to 900 kilowatt-hours, for a savings of about one-third on the monthly utility bill.

The Iowa Energy Center’s Kutz said turbines, even the utility-class systems operating on MidAmerican wind farms, rarely generate at full capacity.

“In an ideal location, they should generate at 40 percent of capacity over a period of time,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Energy calculates that the average home in the Upper Midwest uses 900 to 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

In theory, the 2.5 kW system at the Christensen home should provide all of the family’s electrical needs.

However, as McCain and others point out, the wind would have to blow every minute of every day for that to happen, and it would have to blow at an average speed of about 14 mph.

Christensen said his reasons for putting up the turbine went beyond saving money on his electric bill.

“Anita and I have always been interested in alternative energy,” he said.

In October, McCain and the family launched the process of obtaining a permit for the tower and got a pleasant surprise when Warren County officials decided that wind towers should get a break from the typical $1,000 fee the county charges for cellphone towers and other structures. Instead, it charged $100, earning McCain’s praise for eliminating a common and occasionally deal-killing complaint about the permitting process.

Few cities or counties have ordinances recognizing wind towers as special structures that, in McCain’s mind anyway, should qualify for a reduced fee because of their environmental benefits.

The Christensens enjoy their lone wind turbine so much, both for the environmental benefits as well as the fact that it makes for a good conversation starter, that they toy with the idea of having another one installed, this time with a taller tower.