Four Winds Renewable Energy
8902 County Route 46, Arkport, New York, United States

Four Winds is a full service renewable energy company, dedicated to providing its customers  with the very best in renewable energy products and services. We offer a wide range of system  sizes, from full sized "turn key" systems, right down to providing the "do-it-yourselfer" with  the proper components.

Our Primary Business is the sizing, sales and installation of:

• Stand alone solar and wind electric systems 
• Grid connected wind and solar electric systems
• Solar and wind powered water pumping systems

Wind & Solar

Off Grid Wind and Solar Electric Systems provide power to locations where the cost of  installing utility power is prohibitive. If the power lines are over 1/3 of a mile away, an independent  renewable energy system is usually cost-effective. Many full size homes are powered by solar, wind  or solar/ wind hybrid power systems. For more info on these systems visit our Backup Power Page.  Net Metered Grid-tie Wind and Solar Electric Systems allow you to use renewable wind and  solar energy to reduce or even eliminate your electric bill. These systems are a sound investment that  help the environment and make you less vulnerable to electricity price increases. NY and many other  states have cash incentive programs which significantly reduce the cost of installing these systems for  home, farm and business.

Solar Electrical

Solar (photovoltaic or PV) modules produce direct current (DC) electricity from sunlight  with no moving parts. Solar modules have been in use for over 50 years and in mass  production since 1979. The reliability of PV is such that 20 to 25 year power warranties  are typical, with life expectancies beyond 30 years.

A Brief History of Small Wind Electric Turbines

The first windmill for electricity production was built in Cleveland, Ohio by Charles Brush in 1888.  By 1908 there were 72 wind generators in use, ranging in size from 5 kW to 25 kW. By the 1930s and 1940s, hundreds of thousands of wind electric turbines had been built in the U.S.  and were typically used to provide electricity to farms far beyond the reach of power lines.  These  machines were in the 200 to 3,000 watt range and were configured to charge storage batteries which  operated radio receivers and a few light bulbs.  By the early 1950s, the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) had extended the utility grid to  the majority of American households and the availability of low cost electricity eliminated the market  for these machines. The energy woes of the 1970s helped resurrect the small wind turbine industry. Fueled in large part  by tax credits and the federal PURPA act, over 4500 small grid-tied wind systems were installed  between 1976 and 1985.  In 1985 oil prices dropped, the tax credits expired and the small wind industry was in limbo once again. Today, the high cost of energy and the specter of another energy crisis is helping to increase public  awareness of and demand for renewable energy solutions. The small wind industry is back! 

Net Metering in New York

  New Yorks original net-metering law, enacted in 1997, applied to residential photovoltaic systems up to  10 kilowatts (kW). In 2002, the law was expanded (S.B. 6592) to include qualified farms that generate electricity  from biogas produced by the anaerobic digestion of agricultural waste, such as livestock manure, farming  waste and food-processing wastes. Farm-based biogas systems with a rated capacity of up to 400 kW are  eligible to net meter. In 2004, S.B 4890-E (of 2003) further expanded the law to include residential wind turbines  up to 25 kW and farm-based wind turbines up to 125 kW.     For solar-electric systems, farm biogas systems and small wind systems (10 kW and less), net excess generation  (NEG) in a given month is credited to the next months bill at the utilitys retail rate. At the end of the annual  billing cycle, customers are paid at the utilitys avoided-cost rate for any unused NEG. However, NEG from  wind-energy systems larger than 10 kW is credited to the next months bill at the states avoided-cost rate. NEG  for these systems will be purchased at the utilitys avoided-cost rate at the end of an annualized period.