Bergey Windpower Case Study

Hershey, Pennsylvania 

Amusement Park

Hershey, Pennsylvania - July 8, 2003 [SolarAccess.com] Every year, Hershey Park generates thrills and chills for millions of visitors. This summer, the amusement park will be generating something new and exciting - clean electricity from a newly installed 10 kW Wind Turbine and 2 kW Community Energy Solar Power System located at the Green Team staging area in the Pioneer Frontier section of the park.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Community Energy, Inc. (CEI) and Sustainable Energy Fund of Central Eastern Pennsylvania (SEFCEP) announced their sponsorship of a new entertainment and educational experience inside the amusement park, which aims to promote the benefits of clean sources of electricity to the park's 2.4 million annual visitors.

The Hershey Park Renewable Energy Project features the Green Team 3000, an entertainment show about clean energy, sponsored by DEP and Sustainable Energy Fund, with partial funding supplied by the U.S. Department of Energy, a 80-foot tall Bergey 10 kW wind turbine provided by Energy Unlimited, Inc. with support from the Sustainable Energy Fund, and 60 photovoltaic (PV) solar panels donated to the park by CEI.

The wind turbine and the solar panels combined will be producing almost 30,000 kWhs of clean electricity for the park each year.

"The Renewable Energy Project is a great way to get a very important environmental message across to people of all ages," DEP Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty said. "The Green Team, the wind turbine and the solar panels are all pieces to a much larger environmental puzzle, to which everyone can contribute."

Renewable energy marketer Community Energy, Inc. donated the solar power system to the park to promote renewable energy education and outreach, with design advisement and cost estimation provided by McKissick Associates, PC, and construction services provided by Caldwell Heckles and Egan, Inc.

The 10 kW turbine was manufactured by Bergey Windpower Corporation, and supplied by West Conshohocken-based wind developer, Energy Unlimited, Inc. (EUI), with support from the Sustainable Energy Fund.

The amount of clean electricity generated from both the wind turbine and the solar panels will be displayed in real-time on two educational signs near the Project. Combined, the solar panels and wind turbine are expected to produce approximately 30,000 kWhrs of electricity which will be fed directly into the Park's electrical grid for use by the Park as a replacement for conventional sources of electricity. The environmental benefits associated with the production of electricity by the Renewable Energy Project is equal to not driving almost 30,000 miles or planting over 2,000 trees each year, according to the developers.