Pennsylvania ranks high in wind energy potential – 22nd in the nation – but our state is way behind others in encouraging residential windmills.

Although there has been spotty progress, the state as a whole is just now starting to catch up with states like California, or the Great Plains states that energy experts call “the Saudi Arabia of Wind.”

But in the Cambria-Somerset region – perhaps partly because of Gamesa’s new corporate presence and the emergence of large wind farms – local townships are passing windmill ordinances in anticipation of a slowly emerging homeowner demand.

The Rendell administration has made alternative energy sources a priority, including industrial wind turbines, but small systems to power homes or farms are still taking a back seat.

“Residential wind turbines, as an energy system, are still in their infancy,” said Neil Weaver, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“There are not many of these small systems in Pennsylvania, but what we’re seeing is the state looking at alternative fuels, and there’s an increased public awareness,” he said. “That’s where the market demand will be met, when people understand that wind is free energy. Even though there’s a high cost up front, it is free residential power.”

After electricity bill rate caps expire at the end of 2010, and some customers face up to a 50 percent increase, the market for wind energy will accelerate, experts say.

Even without that, there has been some tangible progress toward wind energy.

Some examples:

• In 2006, Gov. Ed Rendell’s Energy Development Authority awarded a $193,000 grant to Arizona-based Southwest Windpower to place 15 small wind turbines in highly visible locations across the state to get people thinking about alternative energy sources for their homes and businesses.

• By 2007, school districts in Monroe and Pike counties were using 35-foot wind turbines and generating 1.8 kilowatts of electricity. Estimates are that the school buildings’ energy bills were cut by 5 percent to 10 percent.

• Also that year, Prince Gallitzin State Park near Patton in Cambria County received a 120-foot tall turbine, funded through the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The system has been generating electricity for the park office, and has been used for educational programs to spur interest in wind energy.

• Under a state grant, St. Francis University’s Renewable Energy Center in Loretto is using an anemometer to take wind measurements, factoring in that wind blows stronger the higher the tower and other considerations.

• Small wind turbine systems also were built at Yellow Creek State Park in Indiana County, and at Promised Land, Pymatuning, Presque Isle and Tuscarora state parks.

That’s the point, says DEP’s Weaver.

“In that sense Pennsylvania is in the forefront of alternative energy with wind farms and solar farms,” Weaver said. “Now, we turn to consumer wind systems.

“Increased exposure means increased public awareness. And when a resident sees a small wind system in action, and learns that if it creates an excess of electricity he gets paid back, the demand will increase,” he said. “One of our employees with his own wind turbine sees his meter running backward.”

That anticipated increased interest isn’t lost on officials in this area.

While Dennis Simmers, chairman of Cambria Township’s Planning Commission, is not expecting an invasion of small wind turbines, he does want to be prepared.

“We’ve been looking at this for months,” he said, “and our concerns are the possible effect that unregulated use of these could have on neighbors and on the community at large.

“I’ve heard of systems that would cost $40,000 to $80,000 to sustain a whole house with a lot of electrical needs,” Simmers said. “You can pay an awful lot of electric bills before you recoup those costs.”

Simmers said that for a person with a $200 per month electric bill, it would take three years to break even with a windmill.

“We understand that these windmills are not going to pop up all over,” he said. “But at the same token, even one could cause a nuisance for a community. ... For example, what’s to prevent someone from putting one in a backyard of a house in Crestwood? Just one could cause quite a stir. So our driver is to be on the watch for the community at large, and to make sure that a property is of an adequate size so a windmill would blend in. It’s all about planning.”

Simmers and the Cambria Township supervisors said they have not yet been approached by anyone interested in a residential wind turbine system.

But cost and payback are not the only factors people consider when buying a wind turbine for their household needs, said Kerry Campbell, an energy program specialist with DEP.

“A person doesn’t ask what the payback is when they buy a crystal chandelier,” he said. “Sometimes we buy something because it gives us satisfaction.”

Campbell agrees that windmills now do have a long payback time, and he cautions that all renewable energy systems take longer to pay back.

“If you’re only looking to save money on your light bill, look at your light switch first,” he said. “Wind energy is very site-specific. If you don’t have a high ridge top, it may not be practical.”

Campbell views Pennsylvania as having come a long way in encouraging alternative energy forms, especially since the state established new programs and incentives for businesses.

“We still have a long way to go,” he said. “The strategy the governor proposed at the end of 2007, like the $30 million for wind energy, is in the Senate now, and those things would help us to move much farther along.

“Even so, we don’t have the economic resources to offer incentives to those who install residential scale systems,” Campbell said, “although we do have incentives for industry.”

Renewable energy proponents say that states such as California, New York and New Jersey are far ahead of Pennsylvania because they collect a small fee from power customers – an average of $5 per year – that is then used for incentives to install and use alternate systems.

All agree that for residential windmills in Pennsylvania right now, the costs are high and the paybacks are slow. But with the proper incentives, the state eventually will see more.