Welcoming Spring with a Bergey XL.1 Install in Highland County, VA

Really this project should have wrapped up in late October of 2013, but delays on the part of the tower manufacturer had us wearing neoprene boots and brrrrr suits as we finished the install just in time for the 2014 Highland Maple Festival. 

This Bergey wind turbine replaces an ARE110 that was damaged several summers ago in the Derecho wind and rain events that moved through the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia.  Keith (who took this photo) and his wife Polly live off the grid in Highland County, VA.  The Bergey XL.1 is smaller than the ARE110, but it seems to be doing a good job of maintaining battery voltage through the night time when the solar sleeps and the radiant heat runs.