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Kansas man promotes wind
In Terry Galyon's windy world, a handshake is still a deal. He says this as a couple of wind turbines turn at his home near Nickerson, where, in a building on this rural Reno County residence, he manufactures small wind generators through his company TLG Windpower Products. Yet, as the world of the 21st century green technology spins around him, it's the old-time virtue he credits for his company's success. His word. "I remember going to the car lot with my grandfather as a child," he said, adding his grandfather drove off the lot with a newer vehicle and didn't pay a dime or sign a paper. The action surprised Galyon. "I told him, 'You didn't give the man anything,'" Galyon said. "Son," the elder replied. "I gave him my word." Galyon speaks about the power of wind with passion. In the past half-dozen years, his company has gone from being a manufacturer of wind power blades to also selling his own wind generator. Moreover, he promotes the fledgling industry through an Internet radio show on The Green Talk Network -- The TLG Windpower Hour. But his obsession with generating power from the wind isn't new. "I think my interest in wind power started about 1974 when we moved from the country into town," he said. "I did some bartering with some of the neighborhood kids for a generator-powered light for my bicycle. I got it all mounted on my bike, then found out my mother was not going to let me ride my bike after dark." So, Galyon began playing with the generator, turning an old 20-inch bicycle tire into a wind-harnessing machine. "After a few days, the night finally came that we had some storms coming in with wind," he said. "The wind was blowing hard and a bolt of lighting struck something and took the lights out. Woohoo! The house was dark, but my bedroom was lit up like a church house." But life didn't lead Galyon straight into the wind industry. He took several vocational courses and worked in different fields, including radio DJ, mechanic, welder, car audio designer, heating and refrigeration worker and computer network administrator, to name a few. Getting laid off from his job in 2003 when the company that employed him moved to another state is what turned his attention to wind power. To earn money to pay the bills, Galyon was taking apart street bikes and selling the parts on eBay. During this time, he went back to his childhood dream and started building a generator to power the lights in his shop. He made a set of blades for his generator, but he decided to try to sell them on eBay when one of the parts he needed for the mechanism didn't come in. "I figured I could just make another set if they sold," Galyon said. "To my surprise, the blades got a bid on them within the first hours of being listed. I sold that set and listed another. They, too, sold. Needless to say, that generator never got built." Reno County has become somewhat of a hub of wind expansion. Large-scale manufacturer Siemens AG broke ground last week on its new Hutchinson plant, which is expected to bring hundreds of jobs to town. Galyon doesn't know if his small business will become a multimillion-dollar industry like Siemens anytime soon. The economy caused a hit in his sales, he admits. Still, he continues to gain ground. The Green Talk Network contacted him in early summer to ask him to host the hourlong talk show. Meanwhile, he continues to make blades, and business picked up after he launched his newest product a few years ago -- the TLG-500 -- his first production wind-powered generator. He said it's the only 50-pound, 500-watt generator on the market. The cost directly from Galyon is roughly $1,300. With a wind speed of just 5 mph, the generator produces 1 amp of electricity. Most turbines on the market start generating electricity at 12 mph, said customer Ken Byers, a Grantsburg, Wis., farmer who has 12 turbines operating on his farm. Byers said he lives in an area where the average yearly wind speed doesn't exceed much over 5 miles an hour. His turbines produce about 250 kilowatts a month on an annual basis. "That isn't much," he said. "But if we had an average wind speed of 10 to 12 mph, we would produce about 1,000 kilowatts a month, which would be enough to run our all-electric home and a portion of our farm. "Doubling the wind speed quadruples the electronic output," he said. "So locations that have more wind than us could produce quite a bit of electricity with these turbines." Hutchinson Police Detective Pat Voth said he is building a home that's off the grid. He has three of Galyon's 500-watt generators. On windy days, sometimes as much as 105 amps come off all three units, he said. "We've had them in use for 15 months now," Voth said, noting he was looking at products from much farther away when his rural mail carrier told him about Galyon's business. "We were really impressed not only with the (product), but with Terry, as well." Voth said unlike other companies, Galyon doesn't mind shelling out costumer service anytime, as well as advice. Galyon takes pride in the fact that he doesn't cut corners, instead offering customers the best-quality product he can. "My product is an expensive bird, but my product is second to none," he said. He also tries to help local businesses in his effort. While the turbine heads are manufactured China, other parts are machined at Salina's KASA Fab and constructed together on his farm near Nickerson. Colonial Shipping on Main Street ships the product to customers across the nation. "Colonial shipping, they have been a godsend to TLG," Galyon said, noting the owners allow him to store a few finished products at their business, then ship the projects out as Galyon sells units. "I try to keep as much money here as I can, whether it's boxes from American Packaging or IBT for bearings." It is testimonies like Byers' and Voth's, not making it rich, that give Galyon a sense of accomplishment. "I really have the feeling that I've helped someone," he said. "It's kind of an indescribable feeling of accomplishment."
Article from the front page of
The Hutchinson New
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