Renewable Energy

A Fuhrländer 250 kW wind turbine was installed and commissioned by Lorax Energy Systems, LLC at Harbec Plastics. The wind turbine, which will generate about 450,000 kilowatt hours annually or about a third of the power used by the facility, has blades which are 98 feet in diameter and turn gracefully atop a 130 feet high tapered tubular tower. Power generated by the wind turbine will save the facility about $50,000 a year on its energy bills and as energy costs continue to rise, so will this yearly savings amount. The wind turbine, which was manufactured in Germany and erected by a Rhode Island based renewable energy solutions company, will provide the manufacturing facility with stable energy costs for decades to come.

Harbec is known for its efforts to incorporate environmental responsibility into their manufacturing company philosophy. In addition to the wind turbine, the facility utilizes twenty-five clean burning, natural gas powered microturbines to produce up to 750 kilowatts of power along with all the HVAC requirements for the factory through co-generation.

The wind turbine and tower took the Lorax Energy Systems construction crew about a week to assemble and erect with the help of two Fuhrländer factory technicians and a number of Harbec employees.

Wind turbine visit on August 21st, 2001