Small Turbine Testing
Gustavo de Marsillac Peña presented the findings from a series of laboratory tests on an Air 403 at the American Wind Energy Association’s annual conference this week in Austin, Texas.
While it’s difficult and time consuming, author Paul Gipe finds that measuring small wind turbine noise is within the reach of amateurs and asks why manufacturers and national laboratories are not testing the turbines themselves.
The following article grew out of research for an extensive revision of my book Wind Power for Home & Business published by Chelsea Green. The article is essentially a report on how to test small wind turbines and the results of my tests.
A Memorandum to Colleagues in the U.S. Small Turbine Industry on the Draft Performance Standard AWEA 1.2.2000
There is a pressing need for an international center to test and demonstrate small wind turbines. In contrast to the medium-sized wind turbine industry, which is nearing technical maturity, small wind turbines are still plagued by high costs and poor reliability.
The Inventus 5 kW power curve was measured by Windtest Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog in Germany using 10-minute averages. Though the turbine is rated at 5 kW it produces 4.5 kW at 12 m/s using the 10-minute averages. The tests were performed in 1991.
