Solar wind alternative power functioning in historic Bishop Hill

Green Winds, a local company offering SWAP (solar wind alternative power) has a functioning solar-power system in place at a business in this historic Henry County community. Gary Lay of Galesburg, owner of Green Winds, has plans to also install a wind turbine at The Summer Cottage, the business owned by his mother, Arlene Rigg.

The Summer Cottage sells hand-blown glass items for indoor and outdoor use. Rigg also shows off the SWAP system and lets customers look at brochures telling about the alternative energy project.

Rigg, who has a fused spine, does not divulge her age, even to her children, but the senior citizen may have more energy than even her son’s SWAP system produces. A couple of years ago, she lost a freezer full of handpicked fruit when the power went out.

“I didn’t know it,” she said of the power outage.

Lay has the solar portion of the system up and running. There is a battery back-up and a wind turbine is in the works.

He opened a door similar to those housing circuit breakers and showed the brains of the computer system that keeps the solar power running correctly.

“This is the electricity for the system,” he said. “It actually has a computer chip in it that controls the system.”

The system is fully automated, with the exception of a dimmer switch that Rigg can use to turn on and off a waterfall in back, as well as regulate the water flow.

“This thing never allows it to go over 14 volts for charging,” Lay said. “It never allows it to go below 11.5 volts.”

The digital read-out was 13.7 as Lay was displaying the brains of the system.

The battery could be damaged if it is charged too much, the energy consultant explained. Eventually the plan is to use gel cells, but Lay currently uses a lead acid truck battery. The battery is in a compartment outside the store. He said the battery gives off hydrogen as it charges, which is why it can’t be inside. He plans to one day use solar and wind power for his mother’s house and store, through the use of 16 gel cells.

There is a wooden structure that holds two solar cells, one a commercial product, one that Lay made from scratch using glass from Knox Glass in Galesburg. The individual cells come from Germany. The 13 acres Rigg’s house and store sit on are a peaceful combination of prairie grasses, gardens, large shade trees, pine trees just beginning to grow, as well as a large open area. The waterfall is surrounded by a large stone structure made out of fossilized stones.

Lay had a brother who passed away at a young age due to MS.

“So all of this is a monument to him,” he said. “It’s kind of a sanctuary for people and animals.”

The soothing sound of the waterfall amidst all the nature makes for a peaceful place.

Plans are to extend one leg of the small pond and build a stream. Powering the waterfall with alternative energy was Rigg’s idea. Lay said his mother called one day and talked about building the waterfall.

“She said ‘why don’t you power the waterfall with your system?’ So it doesn’t cost as much for electricity,” he said. “It’s just the start of the system. I’m going to increase the solar and put up the wind system.”

Lay needs to find a spot for the 30-foot-tall wind turbine. He said the turbine has to stand at least that tall to be above the tree line.

“Where would that be, Mom?” he asked.

“On the hill, out on the prairie,” she answered without hesitating.