With their blustery winds and open spaces, the far-flung expanses of unincorporated Los Angeles County seemed a promising market for Bob Hayes’ business, installing small energy-generating wind turbines behind homes.

But Hayes has discovered the expense and delays of the county’s permit procedures have slowed his breezy business proposition to a standstill.

Hayes and other installers said they often have to pay up to $10,000 in fees and wait months to get the permits required to build wind turbines for customers who live in unincorporated areas of the county. That stands in contrast to other counties around California, including nearby San Bernardino and Kern counties, where installers said permits are priced at about $1,000 and processed in a matter of weeks.

The permit difficulties have slowed business for local turbine installers, who do most of their work in unincorporated or rural areas. Hayes, who also installs turbines in other parts of California, estimated 80 percent of potential buyers who live in unincorporated Los Angeles County lose interest after he explains how much permits will cost and the length of the wait. (Turbines aren’t generally installed in cities and suburbs because zoning restrictions effectively prohibit them.)

“I get a lot of people who are very interested in it and very enthusiastic,” said Hayes, president of Prevailing Wind Power Inc. in Redondo Beach. “But once they realize the reality of it, they become very discouraged.”

County officials said the installers’ complaints are exaggerated. For instance, the zoning permits an installer would need from the county typically range in cost from $1,000 to $5,700, depending on whether the project requires a public hearing. A building permit can cost anywhere from several hundred dollars to more than $1,500. If county officials determine the turbine requires an environmental impact report, that can cost an additional $1,400. While that can add up to about $8,600 in fees, it’s still less than $10,000.

The county is rewriting its ordinances governing alternative energy, including wind turbine installation, said Karen Simmons, a supervisor in the county’s ordinance studies department. It will take an additional three to six months before the proposed revisions are made public. Although the rewrite is in the preliminary stage, those in the industry are not hopeful that any changes will make much difference.

Actually, from the county’s standpoint, the process for getting approvals for wind turbines already has been addressed and made more transparent. Paul Novak, planning deputy to County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, said the county worked with installers to streamline permit requests two years ago.

“We have made the process faster and cheaper for people to go through,” he said. “Are permits going to be over-the-counter the way it is in some other counties? No. And the reason for that is there hasn’t been support for doing that among residents and homeowner groups.”

Green energy companies everywhere have been hurt by the recession and declines in the cost of oil and natural gas, which have slowed demand. The current challenges have added to the stress of permit difficulties.

“We’re really struggling right now,” said Hayes, who had to lay off his company’s six employees right before Christmas.

Installers acknowledge counties and communities can have legitimate concerns about wind turbines, which can create noise and can be seen as unsightly. Also, the turbines can reach heights of 60 feet and block a neighbor’s view. The twirling blades can chop up birds.

But they said Los Angeles County officials should work with them to address those issues instead of leaving them with high fees and long waits. Installers around the country are now reluctant to build turbines in the county.

“Los Angeles County is, bar none, the worst place to try to install a wind turbine in the world,” said Mike Bergey, president of Bergey WindPower Co. in Norman, Okla., one of the largest manufacturers of small-scale wind turbines in the country.

Two years ago, the company spent $40,000 on an attorney who tried to convince county officials to rewrite the alternative energy ordinance. “It’s the absolute poster child for problems,” Bergey said.

L.A. County is not the only place where wind installers have faced permitting hurdles. A March 2009 survey of turbine installers by the UC Davis Wind Energy Collaborative, a state-sponsored organization that promotes wind power, found high fees and long permit waits to be an issue throughout California.

Highest in state

But L.A. County does stand out for permitting costs. Installers in 19 California counties told the Wind Energy Collaborative that L.A. fees, ranging from $5,300 to $10,000, were the highest in the state. The only other county that was close was Monterey, where fees reached $6,600.

Wind turbines aren’t as widely accepted as solar panels, which have a far more discreet profile.

“A lot of people think, ‘I want clean electric energy, but I don’t want to see it, I don’t want to hear it,’” said C.P. van Dam, a UC Davis engineering professor and head of the Wind Energy Collaborative. “What it comes down to is we have to do a much better job of educating the public about these wind systems.”

Thanks to its proximity to the ocean and variable terrain, which create pressure systems, L.A. County often gets some of the highest wind speeds in the state. That means it’s a good location for turbines.

Add to that the fact that California offers a rebate to residents who put in wind turbines to power their homes, and installers said Los Angeles should be a region ripe for business. But the permit problems have prevented that.

“It’s terrible when the state has a policy that encourages the use of renewable energy, but it’s being held back and stopped at the county level,” said Andy Kruse, vice president at Southwest Wind Power Inc., a Flagstaff, Ariz.-based company that builds small wind turbines.

Neighbor battles

Even turbine installers with headquarters in Los Angeles don’t want to do business in unincorporated areas.

“Honestly, I haven’t deemed Los Angeles County worthy to work in,” said Josh Melanson, chief executive of Sustainable Power Systems in San Dimas.

Instead, Melanson focuses his sales and marketing efforts in San Bernardino County, where he said the business environment is friendlier and permits cost about $1,250. “I would sell in L.A., but the impact of local zoning ordinances is not favorable.”

Those installers who do business in Los Angeles struggle to retain customers.

Bruce Hatchett, sales director at Energy Options in Lancaster, said he has a potential client eager to install a wind turbine on a 40-acre lot. But the project is stalled because a neighbor who lives almost a half-mile away from the proposed project complained to the county and was granted a public hearing.

Now, Hatchett worries his customer won’t be willing to put in the time and expense required by the hearing process.

Hatchett remembers when there were four other turbine installers in his area. That was seven years ago. Over time, he said the permit process drove them out of business.

“Out of the five of us that started, I’m the only one left,” Hatchett said. “They all gave up and said, ‘This is just ridiculous.’”