SWIEP – Small Wind Information Exchange Program
An Educated Buyer is a Wise Buyer
PURPOSE: To serve as an information exchange program for owners of small wind turbines (residential size) & for people considering to be future owners of residential wind turbines. My wish is to provide a forum for current owners of wind turbines to share their experiences with their Wind Genie. Here are some suggestions of information that might be exchanged:
1. Did your installer provide you with an estimate of potential productivity (kWh/year) at your site? What were the predictions?
2. Did you measure kWh per year produced and did it meet expectations?
3. Are you satisfied with your unit, with the warranty service, and with the availability of service?
4. Did you encounter any unexpected problems such as with blade cracking or failure, with turbine failure, or with inverter problems?
I encourage participation because shared information will be of use to current and future owners. For my part, I will tabulate a summary of comments & data and post this on a University of Alberta web site ( http://www.ualberta.ca/~mtyree/SWIEP ). This site will also include independent test results about small wind turbines.
Other useful discussion groups I have seen and joined are:
awea-wind-home (American Wind Energy Association sponsored discussion group)
and wastewatts (An alternative energy and conservation discussion group)
But they are not specifically focused like SWIEP.
SWIEP was officially launched when an article about my home appeared in Home Power Magazine ( www.HomePower.com ). My home derives 100% of its energy needs for heating, hot water, and all electrical appliances from the sun and wind. It is a cost effective home that burns NO fossil fuels and burns NO carbon from any source. It will save $165,000 in fuel costs over the next 20 years (SEE LINKS).
Prof. Mel Tyree, Moderator
Dept Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Canada
... Thanks for all the help. I need the MX 60 to do it's mppt thing so I wouldn't use it based on what's been posted here. I do however have an old C 60 from
otherpower.com makes a great kit. Dan's book is the best out there. we have info on homebuilt units at http://www.green-trust.org/freebooks/ Steve Spence
Ron, I suggest that you read either or both of Paul Gipe's books Wind Power...2nd edition 2004 Wind Basics 2nd edition 2009 See the contents pages of both on
Ron, Take a look at http://www.scoraigwind.com/ as well as the link that Terry supplied. Digest as much as you can and ask questions about what you do not