NREL’s field test report on Renewable Devices Swift in 2011 can be found here: Power Performance Test Report for the … Read more
Small Turbine Product Reviews
Despite my best efforts, I’ve been dragged into the DyoCore flap here in California. I successfully ignored Mick Sagrillo’s plea to write something. I successfully ignored DyoCore’s request to get involved on their behalf. Now the staff of the California Energy Commission (CEC) has weighed in asking me to clarify my statements.
But Energy Estimates Not Off by Much
I’ve reviewed the series of preproduction wind turbine designs from Earthtronics twice before. See below.
To avoid a deal “that’s too good to be true”.
I’ve been putting off writing anything about the “Energy Ball” simply because there are too many of these “inventions” for one person to track, analyze, and report on. Like many of these contraptions, and that’s the best I can say about such devices, it’s a distraction from more serious endeavors.
The Skystream uses a 3.72-meter diameter, three-blade, downwind rotor. Southwest Windpower claims that this rotor will deliver 1.8 kW at its rated speed of 9 m/s and generate 4,800 kWh per year at an average annual wind speed of 5.5 m/s (12.3 mph).
Twice now on our way to Pearson International Airport in Toronto we’ve passed two Skystreams in operation at a shopping center. They’ve both been operating both times. That’s plus, we need a lot more operating turbines in the Greater Toronto Area. . . The French test site for small wind turbines has published a report on the performance of Southwest Windpower’s Skystream 3.7 wind turbine. . .
Britain’s Renewable Devices introduced its “Swift” micro turbine several years ago to criticism that its estimates of annual production were inflated. See Roof Top Over the Top in Britain. Since then the manufacturer has revised the claim of annual production on its web site.
Or How to Increase the Power of the Skystream 3.7 with the Stroke of a Pen
