Original Oyster House adds wind turbine

SPANISH FORT, Ala. (WALA) - The Original Oyster House on Battleship Parkway started producing its own electricity on Dec. 13 thanks to the installation of a wind turbine.   

It's the third step the restaurant has taken toward environmental stewardship. 

A 45-foot-tall wind turbine now marks the restaurant’s Spanish Fort parking lot.

It creates an image you'd expect to see along remote hillsides in the Western U.S.

 “The causeway is absolutely gorgeous. It's been good to us, and we feel like it's the right thing to do,” said The Original Oyster House President Joe Roszkowski. 

The Original Oyster House took another step forward in its effort to use more renewable energy with the installation of a solar powered water heater and wind turbine.   

“I don't think I'm a green fanatic, but I do recognize the importance of it and the gift that we've been given in the most beautiful part of the country it's a great thing,” said Roszkowski.

Two years ago, the restaurant began recycling cooking oil and uses it as Biodiesel for delivery vehicles.

“Believe it or not, it actually smells a little bit like French fries when it's burning, but you won't see any oysters shooting out the tailpipe or anything like that,” said Roszkowski.

The Original Oyster House plans to use the electricity to light its playground and power its holiday light display, surplus energy will be put back on the grid.

McGill-Toolen’s environmental club girls assisted Gulf Coast Green Power’s Robert Harris in hoisting the blade onto its shaft.

“It will do about 3,000 watts of energy when the winds blowing really, really strong,” said Robert Harris, Gulf Coast Green Power.

 It went up slowly, workers bolted it in place, and then nothing; the blades remained motionless.

“So what it does basically is when the wind blows it spins,” said Harris.  

 Workers repositioned the turbine's head and the blades started humming along creating energy.

“It's the opposite from a fan: a fan needs electricity and blows wind, well this needs wind and produces electricity. It's a power plant,” said Harris.

The wind turbine begins spinning when the wind is at least eight miles-per-hour, it can withstand winds up to 140 mph.  

Roszkowski said with the cost savings, the solar panel will pay for itself in 16-months, whereas the wind turbine will take longer to recoup its cost.