Small windmills put to the test (which they fail)

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/04/small-windmills-test-results.html

April 19, 2009

Small windmills put to the test

A real-world test performed by the Dutch province of Zeeland (a very windy place) confirms our http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/09/urban-windmills.html">earlier analysis that small windmills are a fundamentally flawed technology (http://kreeft.zeeland.nl/zeesterdoc/ZBI-O/ZEE/ZEE0/8012/801257_1.pdf">test results here, pdf in Dutch). http://provincie.zeeland.nl/milieu_natuur/windenergie/kleine_windturbines/de_turbines">Twelve of these much hyped machines were placed in a row on an open plain (picture above). Their energy yield was measured over a period of one year (April 1, 2008 - March 31, 2009), the average wind velocity during these 12 months was 3.8 meters per second (slightly higher than average). Three windmills broke. Find the disappointing results of the others below.

…

[MADem]

1. VERY interesting discussion following that article.

Interesting data, as well.

K and R!

[here_is_to_hope]

2. I have three Air 404's that date back

to the mid 1990's, they have been bullet proof in my application.
YMMV.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. NREL produced a helpful "consumer's guide"

http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy07osti/42005.pdf

[Nihil]

4. K & R for an interesting article.

It showed the failings of small (1-5m diameter) turbines:
> An average Dutch household consumes 3,400 kWh/year. Listed below is
> the amount of windmills required, and their total cost, to power a
> Dutch household entirely using wind energy:
>
> - Energy Ball : 47 windmills (202,288 euro)
> - Ampair : 14 windmills (124,950 euro)
> - Turby : 14 windmills (298,900 euro)
> - Airdolphin : 9 windmills (157,932 euro)
> - WRE 030 : 9 windmills (265,608 euro)
> - WRE 060 : 7 windmills (260,309 euro)
> - Passaat : 6 windmills (55,434 euro)
> - Skystream : 2 windmills (21,484 euro)
> - Montana : 2 windmills (37,016 euro)
>
> An average American household consumes almost 3 times more electricity
> than a Dutch household. Simply multiply the above figures by three.

... whilst showing the advantage of industrial sized (18m) ones:
> Close to the test site stands a (relatively) large windmill with a rotor
> diameter of 18 meters. It delivers 143,000 kWh per year, or an average
> power output of 16,324 watts. It can power 42 Dutch households. This
> large windmill costs only slightly more than all small windmills combined
> (17 percent more, to be exact, or 190,000 euro), but it delivers almost
> 20 times more energy. This comes down to 4,523 euro per household.

At least they justified their summary.
> Wind power rules, but small windmills are a swindle.
> Bigger is, in this case, better.

:toast:

[jberryhill]

5. You don't often hear about Zeeland....

But you can draw a lot of blanks by asking people, "If New Zealand is a country in the Pacific, where was 'old' Zealand?"

[bananas]

6. There was a movie about Zooland

and its people, the Zoolanders.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196229/