News & Articles on Small & Household Size Wind Turbines
Small wind turbines encompass a broad range of wind turbines from micro turbines, to mini turbines, to household-size turbines. Wind turbines in these size classes may have power ratings from a few watts to dozens of kW. Internationally, this category includes wind turbines up to 15 meters (49 feet) in diameter. Wind turbines of this size may have power ratings from 50 to 100 kW.
While ducted or shrouded wind turbines and Vertical Axis Wind Turbines can be of any size, they are listed here because they are outside the mainstream of the commercial wind industry.
Set of Enertech 10-foot Long Blades for Sale
By
Paul Gipe
Robert Kroeger, a former Enertech sales representative, has a set of 10-foot long Gougeon blades probably for a 4 kW …
1984 Films of Fayette Wind Turbines by Thomas Braise
By
Paul Gipe
In the fall of 1984 California photographer Thomas Braise filmed Fayette Manufacturing’s wind turbines in the Altamont Pass. Braise was …
Sweden’s JBA Vind Now Open Source
By
Paul Gipe
Sven Ruin, an engineering consultant with the family firm TEROC, has notified me that the former Swedish wind turbine manufacturer …
Greenwashing & Wind Energy: What is it and Who Does it
By
Paul Gipe
Recently I was approached about an article I’d written in 2013 where I accused The Nature Conservancy of greenwashing. (See …
Kragten Design Wind Turbines Now Open Source
By
Paul Gipe
Adriaan Kragten contacted me that he’s retiring from his wind turbine design work and has made his designs publicly available. …
Failed Dream: the Bearingless Wind Turbine Rotor of the Late 1970s
By
Paul Gipe
On paper the composite bearingless rotor seemed too good to be true: a wind turbine rotor that enabled the blades to change pitch without bearings in the hub. And the wind turbine would passively use aerodynamic forces to orient the rotor downwind of the tower. It was the height of simplicity and would be cheap to build. What could go wrong? The short answer: everything. Eventually the nearly 400 wind turbines using the concept in California during the Great California Wind Rush of the early to mid 1980s were scraped off the face of the earth for scrap. And therein lays a sprawling tale.
