Flying high with wind: alternative energy entrepreneurs offer a green vision.

• Author: Lavrakas, Dimitra
• Position: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

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For sure George Sikat has vision. For instance, he met his wife, Cassandra, after he'd finished hosting a show at a comedy club in the wee hours. When she walked up to him, he said he had a flash of a wedding dress.

"I knew I was doomed," he said.

Their first date was breakfast.

At the time they met, Cassandra was in natural foods.

"Everybody she worked for loved her because she treated the business like it was hers," George said. Now she has her own business. They incorporated the business, Mat-Su Energy Inc., this past January. They came to the business by way of home ownership, George said.

"Actually, mentally, we wanted to do wind and solar to this house two years ago, but then Cassandra told me she was pregnant," George said. It will be their second child after 2-year-old George IV, who scooted from room to room during the interview.

"Actually, it was George's idea," Cassandra said. "We has talked about it, but as soon as he learned I was pregnant, his mind jump-started. I'm more of a behind-the-scene person to make sure everything is done properly--like a back-seat driver."

Relying on the opinion of family members who gave the thumbs up for the idea, George hit the books every morning at 3:30 a.m. to learn about alternative energy.

Dunn & Bradstreet, KeyBank, the Small Business Administration and the Small Business Development Center were a great help, he said.

RUNNING ON SUNSHINE

Since March 2008, the company has put out more than $1 million in proposals and brought in $130,000.

One of the company's projects, public radio station KMBQ-FM, headquartered near downtown Wasilla, by 2009 will be powered mainly by solar and wind turbine. It will be the first green radio station in Alaska, George said.

Once all the paperwork and learning were completed, the Web site was built to carry the 173-page catalog that contains more than 6,000 products.

Solar packages include panels and a converter, and range in price from $42,214 for a 30-5,100 watt system, $21,630 for 2,700 watts and $14,167 for 1,800 watts.

The company is working on four projects--all off the grid, George said-one in Talkeetna and three in Mat-Su.

"It's amazing how knowledgeable people are," he said. "All our customers have been doing a lot of research. One of things we have on our Web site is a learning center, and customers have complimented us for that resource. And shows like Planet Green are helping educate people too."

Complete packages for their...