Kalamazoo - Known once as \u201cThe Windmill City,\u201d Kalamazoo will be going back to the future when work begins Monday on bringing a 150-foot wind tur- bine to KVCC\u2019s Texas Township Campus.

With the college receiving a special- use permit and an approval of a site plan this week from the Texas Township Planning Commission, the 50-kilowatt unit with its 125-foot tower and trio of

25-foot blades should be installed between Christmas and New Year\u2019s Day, and be ready to generate 15 percent of the energy needed to power the technical wing at KVCC by the first of 2009.

KVCC\u2019s wind turbine, which could be the first of four, will overlook the soccer and ball fields on the west end of the campus. The $250,000 project is viewed as an investment in energy conservation

As an indicator that \u201ceverything old is new again,\u201d Kalamazoo is flashing back in its industrial history when in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, the city was home to several major manufac- turers that, at their peak, made 4,000 windmills annually and sold 1,500 to overseas markets.

Entegrity Wind Systems Inc., which has a sales office in Boulder, Colo., the 50-kilo- watt wind turbine supplements the energy source needed to power large buildings and combats rising utility rates. Its purchase and installation is being funded by one of the college\u2019s \u201cInnovative Thinking\u201d grants.

But it will also be a powerful teach- ing and learning tool for KVCC\u2019s technical programs, and serve as the symbol of the college\u2019s plans to establish a Wind Energy Center.

Earlier this year, according to Deborah Dawson, KVCC\u2019s dean of busi- ness and advanced technology, the Michigan Energy Office awarded the col- lege a $6,000 grant to purchase equip- ment to provide students \u201creal-time\u201d experiences with this alternative source of energy and train the next generation of technicians in this field.

One of the purchases was a miniature version of a three-bladed turbine with a five-foot propeller span. KVCC\u2019s technical programs are infusing wind-power com- ponents into their curriculums. In the works is a one-year, 35-credit-hour cer- tificate for wind-energy technicians.

Other objectives include educating the public about alternative sources of energy and to get high school students, such as those enrolled at the Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center, involved so that they can increase their knowledge and awareness about the effi- ciencies of wind energy.

\u201cAn educational institution leading by example is the way I see it,\u201d said James DeHaven, vice president for economic and business development. He believes the KVCC Wind Energy Center, which will be based in the M-TEC on the college\u2019s Groves Campus along I-94, will have educational, job-training, employment, entrepreneurial, and research-and-development ramifica- tions for this part of the state.

The turbine operating at the WMU College of Engineering and viewable along U. S. 131 is a 1.8-kilowatt unit. The one on the Texas Township Campus will 25 times more powerful.

While wind is now \u201cin,\u201d it\u2019s been a long time coming, according to one of Entegrity\u2019s executives.

\u201cThe time for wind energy came with the first Arab oil embargo in late 1973 when it became evident that energy was such a big part of the economy of every- body,\u201d said Malcolm Lodge, who has 30 years of wind-energy engineering to his credit as the firm\u2019s president and chief technical officer.

According to a Michigan State University study, Michigan could produce 320,000 megawatts of energy -- more than 10 times the amount of electricity needed during a peak-use period -- if 100,000 offshore wind turbines operated along the Great Lakes.

There comes a time in many business owners\u2019 lives when they want to exit their company. Unfortunately, many family busi- ness owners overlook exit planning and are uninformed about all the options available. As a result, numerous family-run companies are caught unprepared, and face less than optimal ownership transition options, or simply go out of business.

It\u2019s critical that family business owners consider what will happen to the company if they retire. Most family business owners assume another family member will take the reins, but according to statistics, that\u2019s rarely the case.

Thirty percent of family-owned busi- nesses successfully transfer from the first generation to the second, about 12 percent transfer to the third generation and only about 3 percent make it to the fourth gener- ation, according to the Family Business Institute, Raleigh, N.C.

While there are several exit options, an increasing number of family business owners are partnering with private equity firms. There are many benefits to a PE partnership, such as the opportunity to keep the business independent and avoid selling to a competitor, as well as the option to remain with the busi- ness or cash out. Meanwhile, business own- ers get a sense of comfort knowing that their company and its employees will be taken care of, and will not simply become a production facility or local branch for a competitor.

A recent study by Ernest & Young pro- vides further support behind the value of partnering with a PE firm. The study ana- lyzed metrics for the 100 largest private- equity exits worldwide in 2007 alongside the performance of comparable publicly traded companies over the same period.

The study found that companies sold by private equity firms increased in enterprise value at an annual, compounded rate of 24 percent while in a PE firm\u2019s portfolio\u2014dou- ble the rate of the comparable publicly trad- ed companies. PE firms also increased the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of these portfo- lio companies 37 percent faster than their publicly traded counterparts did. Finally, these companies improved productivity lev- els 33 percent faster than publicly traded company benchmarks.

The outperformance stems from the PE business model, which produces measurable growth, productivity improvements and profit increases at a greater rate. In turn, those gains increase enterprise value.

Many business owners may not fully understand the advantages they can gain by leveraging a PE investment. Following are five of the most important benefits owners of family-owned businesses can expect from the right PE firm.

A good PE firm brings efficient systems into a company, narrows the focus, identifies new markets and integrates value-added

processes. Whether it\u2019s in the form of a cap- ital infusion to bolster IT systems or a fresh perspective on the marketplace, a PE\u2019s involvement can breathe new life into a mature company.

For many mid-market PE firms, involvement comes through strategic plan- ning and providing additional resources to help improve and build the business. In addition to capital, a PE firm may have a net-

work of other resources\u2014such as a board of directors with valuable industry experi- ence\u2014to assist management teams in achieving strategic objectives.

PE is a viable alternative to the cash infusion a public offering brings and it allows for steadier, longer-term growth. Under the public microscope, companies are held to short-term growth goals measured quarter by quarter. PE allows more flexibility

to make strategic decisions that can pay off in the long run, but wouldn\u2019t be as attractive to stock-market investors.

Globalization is now a major factor in most industries. Some mid-market business- es may not be equipped to compete globally.

But the resources and know-how of a PE firm can help them enter new markets and serve new customers worldwide.