Wind turbines installed at four P.E.I. rinks are not performing as expected.

The rinks each invested about $70,000 in the turbines in 2011, with government also picking up part of the cost. After almost a year of breakdowns and delays, last March they started turning, But they haven't generated the expected electricity savings.

"We're very dissatisfied," said Myles MacDonald, president of the board at the Northumberland Arena.

"It's made about $1,800 in the last 10 months — that's the energy it's produced — which is about four per cent of our electricity bill."

The project is being managed by the Wind Energy Institute of Canada, and CEO Scott Harper agrees the results are below expectations.

"It's off to a bad start, but I still see hope that we can turn some things around,"

Harper said the wind has been below-average this year, and the institute is working with the turbine supplier to tweak them.

But Myles MacDonald said his community wants its money back. If the money is not returned, he said their turbine will likely be scrapped when its five-year warranty is up, and the community will absorb the loss.