A local startup with ambitions to provide efficient, alternative energy systems to area farms and businesses received a boost from a regional program designed to assist entrepreneurs. Gary Lay of Galesburg was awarded a $5,000 matching grant from the Northwest Region Entrepreneurship Center, a program funded through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. His company Green Wi
nds proposes to build and supply the area with wind turbines and solar panel systems and “meet the emerging and the untapped market of alternative power systems from wind and solar.”
Don Henry, director of NWREC, presented Lay with the check Tuesday at Galesburg City Hall.
“We work with entrepreneurs with high growth potential,” Henry said. “It can be a small business or a startup with potential for growth outside the local market.”
Henry said he “thought (Lay) could pull this off” after meeting with him and reviewing “pieces and parts” of the energy systems. Cesar Suarez, Galesburg economic development director, also has said Green Winds has “great potential.”
In late December, Lay installed a 25-foot wind turbine for a private property in Galesburg.
“I still need to finish the electronics for that one but it’s up and creating power,” said Lay, a consultant for Chicago-based Glacial Energy who’s also worked as a nuclear field engineer, an electrician and a building inspector in Los Angeles. The $5,000 grant, combined with Green Winds’ match, will help cover the costs of creating a proof of concept for a stand-alone wind turbine system, procuring materials, testing and evaluation, and market research following a successful proof of concept work. Lay said he’s been working on the concept of wind and solar-based energy systems for the last 30 years.
“This has been kind of a burning issue with me; something I’ve wanted to do for many years. It was almost like a New Year’s resolution that I was going to follow through on this idea,” he said. “After talking to farmers in the area I learned there is a great hunger for these individual power systems. ... For years, farmers did everything they needed. A lot of this is about taking back control.”
Since it was created in 2004, the NWREC has awarded $665,000 in “challenge grants” to entrepreneurs from across 11 northwest counties of Illinois, Henry said. The NWREC also provides consultation assistance to award recipients. In turn, recipients are required to provide progress reports. Even with the program’s assistance, “there’s no guarantee of success,” Henry said.
“That’s just business. Things don’t always go the way you want. These are small businesses and you can’t always predict three or four years down the road how everything goes.”
For more information about Green Winds, call 341-0280.
