KALISPELL, Mont. -- Midway Mini Mart, a convenience store and gas station in Kalispell, Mont., is installing 40 solar panels on the roof, and a wind turbine that is 59 feet from ground to blade tip, Jeff Arcel, president and CEO of Mother's Power, a Whitefish, Mont., firm that offers renewable energy solutions, told the Daily Inter Lake.
Arcel helped store owners Dan Scheffer and Melody Watts get grant funding to pay for about 55% of the $155,000 investment. He also designed the system, installed it and will provide ongoing maintenance, the report said.
A grant through the Rural Energy for America Program, a 2008 Farm Bill initiative, will pay for a quarter of the cost, while a grant through the U.S. Treasury Department is covering another 30% of the cost, added the report.
"Dan and Mel are...true believers" in renewable energy, Arcel said. Scheffer and Watts, who have owned the store since 1987, have been seeking ways to reduce their $2,000 monthly power bill.
They started with an energy audit. By changing to energy-efficient light bulbs throughout the store and under the outside canopy and making the store's cooling system more cost-effective, they shaved the monthly power bill to about $1,100 a month, said the report.
"We've done everything possible," Scheffer told the newspaper, pointing to motion detectors on the store's eight coolers that shut off fans when the store is closed. "At night you don't need pop to be cold. The fans start up again in the morning, and the pop doesn't cool off that much during the night."
The solar panels and wind turbine will reduce the store's power bill by another 20%, Arcel added.
The investment should pay for itself in anywhere from 10 to 20 years, the report said.
"People don't believe solar will work in Montana," he added, "but even on cloudy days [the panels] will kick out 30% to 40% of their rated output."
The panels can produce up to 9.6 kilowatts of power, in turn charging batteries that will allow the station to pump gasoline even if the electricity is off for an extended period of time.
The system will incorporate net metering, allowing the store to offset the cost of power if the panels and wind turbine produce more electricity than the store uses.
Flathead County granted Midway Mini Mart a conditional-use permit to install the wind turbine, the Daily Inter Lake said. It will be the first commercial wind turbine in the Flathead Valley, according to Arcel.
The 2.4-kilowatt turbine will start producing energy when the wind is six miles per hour. Such turbines need an average wind speed of 10 mph to be effective, Arcel said, and the store is located between areas with wind averages of 8 to 11 mph and 11 to 14 mph.
"We acknowledge there aren't too many areas in the Flathead that have adequate, consistent wind, but this is a high point," Arcel said, referring to the Happy Valley area.
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