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WATERFORD TWP. -- Oak Electric Service, Inc. has installed a number of new wind turbines, solar systems and efficient lighting for homeowners and businesses. Recently, they installed a wind turbine for themselves at their shop on Dixie Highway.

 

"The interest in renewable 'green initiatives' like wind and solar have created a whole new industry for electrical contractors who have the desire to expand their capabilities," said Gary Pipia, owner of Waterford-based Oak Electric Service, Inc. "We formed a new Green Division in 2008 to sell and install small commercial and residential wind turbines and solar systems along with lighting energy upgrades. In an effort to better understand the real benefits and cost savings for some of these small wind turbines, solar electric systems and high-efficient lighting, we decided to install them for ourselves at our main administrative and warehouse facility."

 

The installation of a Swift wind turbine, solar system and high-efficiency lighting will allow Oak Electric to collect data to see where energy savings are, Pipia said. With DTE Energy’s Solar Currents Program and state and federal government Renewable Energy Tax Credits, the time it takes to recoup the investment has been significantly reduced.

 

“We’re going to find all that out for ourselves,” Pipia says.

 

Oak Electric decided to install a 1.5 kilowatt wind turbine from Grand Rapids-based Swift. The design allowed it to be mounted directly on the side of the building without having to erect a separate pole. This turbine is designed to provide up to 200 kilowatt hours of power per month with an average wind speed of 14 mph.

 

“We know that at our location we do not have those kinds of sustained wind speeds, but we want to accumulate the data and find out what we are producing and how much power we are actually putting back into the electrical grid,” Pipia said. “Michigan is one of five states that have a utility ‘buy-back’ rate program to promote renewable, distributed generation technologies like small wind turbines. We know that this type of system has the ability to give back electricity to the power grid by relaying generated power not being used.”

 

Oak Electric has become authorized dealers for wind turbine manufacturers Swift, Skystream and ReDriven Power. The company has installed four turbines, not including its own, Pipia said. “That includes units from each of the turbine manufacturers we represent.”

 

A customer in Howell has a 3.7 kilowatt Skystream wind turbine on a 30-foot pole. Kettering University in Flint has a 1.5 kilowatt Swift mounted on the fourth story on one of its classroom buildings. Soon, Oak Electric will install a 5 kilowatt Redriven Power wind turbine on an 80-foot pole for a homeowner in Ann Arbor, as well as a 2.4 kilowatt Skystream on a 45-foot pole and a 1.8 kilowatt solar system at the Oakland Tech Center in Springfield Township.

 

Oak Electric Service, 5492 Dixie Highway, is an electrical contractor that provides electrical service for the industrial, commercial and residential markets in metro Detroit and Southeast Michigan. Over the past 10 years, Oak Electric has also specialized in stand-by generator installations for industrial, commercial and residential markets. The company is a preferred vendor for DTE and one of Michigan’s largest dealers for Generac power systems. Oak Electric is also an authorized dealer for AEE Solar Systems.

 

For more information, call (248) 623-4900, e-mail gary@oakelectric.com

 

 

 

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