info@truenorthpower.com
A Publication of the FREE Wind Press - May be re-printed for personal use only
Copyright (C) 2007 TRUE-NORTH Power Systems
For commercial or non-profit publication contact TRUE-NORTH Power Systems
Lion's Head ON N0H 1W0 - (519) 793-3290
A Publication of the FREE Wind Press - May be re-printed for personal use only
Copyright (C) 2007 TRUE-NORTH Power Systems
For commercial or non-profit publication contact TRUE-NORTH Power Systems
Lion's Head ON N0H 1W0 - (519) 793-3290
Issue 2:6 Headlines: December 2004
Small Wind is NOT Big Wind
Everyone knows that a major source of renewable energy is available from wind turbines, all shapes and sizes of them. Politicians, bureaucrats, the media and the public all agree that wind turbines produce clean energy that contributes to lowering carbon emissions. Media stories and legislators alike seem to think wind is wind and small personal turbines are no different than the big commercial generators and so they treat them the same way. After all, small turbines are just small, less efficient versions of the big ones right! You need to go "big" to get the economies of scale right! . . WRONG . . . not just partly but completely WRONG! What they don't seem to realize is that there is virtually no comparison between the two sizes of turbines, not the technology or the materials, the value proposition, the price of energy they produce, not the taxes or the legislation, or the connection to the grid . . . practically nothing is the same, and yet they are most often treated as if they were. I've said before. The only two things large and small turbines have in common is the wind and bureaucracy . . . and I'm not sure those are two different things.
What I'd like to show you is that the differences are quite significant and that we need to start discussing them in light of those differences if we are ever to understand the value and place small wind occupies in the world of renewable energy. As long as we think they are similar all the attention will focus on Big Wind as the only cost effective way to generate energy from the wind. We need to understand their differences in order to overcome the bureaucratic obstacles that are currently holding back the small wind turbine market. Let's look at how they compare under several headings. Most everyone in the wind business has a definition of where "Big Wind" begins. For the purposes of this discussion it begins at around 10kW. Big wind is any turbine above 10kW that cannot operate without connection to the grid, and "Small Wind" are those turbine systems about 10kW or less that can operate either on or off grid as desired.
Technology
Big commercial turbines are massive, with rotors larger than the cross section of a football field. Their huge flexible blades are over 50M (150ft) long and their drives, torque converters, transmissions and power conversion systems are complex and may weigh several tons. Their blades need to be flexible because "wind sheer" is a problem. Wind Sheer occurs when air moves across itself at different speeds and directions. These rotors may be 20M (60ft) above the ground at the lowest part of the arc and over 120M (360ft) at the top. The wind up there moves faster and in a different direction, maybe 5-10mph faster than near the ground. The energy in the wind doubles every 2-3 mph below 30mph. The energy 20mph vs. 10 mph is not double but 8 times more, and so the stresses on the blades are significant. All this means the blades must be heavy and powerful but flexible at the same time allowing some of the energy to "spill" at the top of the arc and capturing more near the bottom. They also must have speed control to match the turbine rpm with the synchronous motor at 60 cycles so their energy can readily be matched to the grid. This is usually accomplished with a complex pitch mechanism and controller that manages the blade pitch as the wind speed and direction change. In order the orient into the wind large machines need sensors and a drive mechanism to keep the whole tower head pointing into wind. More technology . . . more complexity.
In order to get power down the wires to the ground the large commercial turbines run heavy copper cables that can wrap around one or two times and must be mechanically unwound occasionally during a calm period. The tower must be able to rotate 360 degrees to face the wind, but slip rings and brushes are just unworkable at the electrical current levels these machines generate. There are many different , and some quite advanced, fluids and lubricants needed for all the moving parts and control systems of a Big Wind turbine. There are also special lighting requirements but we'll get to those later. Blade and tower designers have developed hundreds of special material processes for forming and manufacturing these huge monsters. Designers continue to press the limits of materials and manufacturing as machines reach over 5 megawatts of power in size and the complexity of them increases.
Small wind, on the other hand, focuses on simplicity. Wind sheer is generally not an issue since blades are usually less than 2-3 meters long and difference in the power of the wind from top to bottom of the arc is minor. Small wind generally uses fixed pitch blades and very simple drives that may have 2-3 sealed bearings on a drive shaft as the only moving parts that have contact and need lubrication. Fix pitch props means the blade speed is not constant and the AC power generated is rectified into DC power and stored in batteries. Most importantly small wind blades are best if they are extremely stiff and do not flex, carrying the load along the whole length of the blade, making them more efficient and quieter than flexible blades. The blade technology and materials for small wind stiffness is very different. It used to be that designers thought "if it ain't heavy it won't last" and they point to some of the small wind success designs like the Jacobs turbines built in the 1930s many of which are still flying today. Jacobs turbines were built out of the iron and steel products available in the 30s and 40s, and they are very heavy. But the advent of carbon fiber and lightweight space age metals and materials of the 80s and 90s, with closer tolerances, has meant modern small turbine designers can take advantage of the advances in aerospace manufacturing processes, to produce lightweight reliable components.
Electrically, small wind is very different. Big Wind operates at 600v 60 cycle AC or higher and then step their voltage up to 44,000 v before connecting to the grid. Also, they must have a working grid to send their power to or they must shut down during a power failure. If the power fails they have no place to put their megawatts of energy and they would simply "melt down" like a nuclear reactor . . . with a lot less risk to public safety mind you. Small wind operates at 12, 24, or 48v usually, while some newer small wind systems are working at 120-240 v. The lower voltage is an advantage because you can store the energy in battery packs that are not too large. As well, at these low powers simple brush and slip ring mechanisms can allow automatic 360 degree rotation of the head into wind, without having to unwrap wires occasionally like the big boys do. Small wind can connect and synchronize with the grid if they want to, but the grid is not a requirement to operate like it is with big wind. Electrically, small wind is usually just a 3 phase "Y" or "Delta" alternator, much like your car alternator, but with some simple rectifier circuit to convert the AC output of the turbine to DC current so it can be stored in a battery pack. Batteries are very useful for small wind because it means you can capture all the available energy whenever the wind blows, even if you can't use it right away. Later you can take it from the batteries, a little bit or a lot at a time, even if there is no wind and no grid.
Simplicity and Reliability
The simplicity of small wind machines means a much higher Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) can be achieved. The more complex a machine is the more components and mechanisms it has, the more methods of failure it has, and the more likely it is to have a failure that can be significant. With redundant back up systems Big Wind can do what the Space Shuttle does. They can suffer a number of systems failures before it must shut down safely or have a catastrophic failure. We know however, that sometimes a chain of small events can result in catastrophe. With complexity comes cost and maintenance. With simplicity, Small Wind technology relies on fewer parts, simple direct drives and long-life bearings. These few reliable components assure operation at a much lower cost to manufacture as well as operate.
Production Forecasting
For a large commercial turbine to be funded it must prove that the wind resource is sufficient by doing a wind study that costs from $5,000-$50,000 or more and takes 12-18 months. For about $5,000 you can install a small wind system and evaluate the production directly rather than calculate the theoretical production from wind analysis. It's not practical to set up a large wind turbine for such a study. That's why wind analysis is the only alternative for Big Wind. Small wind site analysis, on the other hand, benefits more from the local placement and height of the tower on the property than testing various properties for the best location. Anemometer readings are more of an academic than economic interest for small wind.
Price of the Power
Big wind competes for sales at the wholesale price level while Small Wind replaces power at the retail price including all applicable taxes, transmission tariffs, delivery charges and in Ontario at least, Hydro Debt charges that are related to volume of use. Every kilowatt that you produce and use locally replaces the fully burdened cost of a kilowatt that an average consumer pays. Right now, the wholesale price a marketing agency like the Ontario IMO pays commercial Big Wind generators averages about 4-5 cents per kW and can actually range from 1-2 cents to over 30-40cents depending on time of day and supply and demand. ON the consumer side we now see many jurisdictions using a 2 or 3 tier rate structures whereby the consumer is charged a base rate for the first level of consumption and a higher rate for energy above that level. Example in Ontario; any power used above 750kWhrs/month in Ontario the consumer pays 5.9 cents/kWhr, so the blended base rate averages above 5cents depending on usage. Then you add tariffs and delivery charges plus PST and GST. Did you know that GST applies to the line losses? It's not a "good" nor a "service", you didn't get it but you paid tax on it. This two tier rate strategy is good for encouraging conservation but does not apply to small wind users except the net benefit is that every kilowatt produced and used locally offsets the more expensive 2nd tier power first, including tariffs and taxes.
Environmental Studies, Birds and Noise
Big wind like any commercial installation requires an environmental study, several thousand dollars and several months of effort to show that placing a big fan on a 50x50 piece of farm land will not harm the environment. This seems a little overkill in most instances because almost any flat open area suitable for large turbines is likely already subject to many forms of environmental stress such as farming, fertilizers or other human endeavour that has never needed such investigation before. It's ironic that little effort is made to require environmental assessment of obvious pollutants like coal and other fossil fuel burners that we know have a significant impact yet just as obviously beneficial sources such as sun and wind are put through rigorous environmental studies before they can be approved. Misguided people and groups try to hinder development with scare tactics like bird kills and noise pollution when these issues are at worst extremely minor and largely insignificant compared to the benefit. For example, high rise buildings and snowmobiles contribute to bird deaths and noise pollution at several thousands of times greater impact than any wind farm or modern small wind turbine yet there is virtually no effort made to protect birds from glass buildings or humans or screaming jet ski or snowmobile engine noise. Why pick on wind? In a quiet country setting, at 15-20mph, the leaves in the trees make more noise than a modern small turbine. Every outdoor cat manages a few bird kills every year. I have yet to attribute even a single bird kill to ANY small turbine installation I've ever seen. Small wind has an even smaller impact on birds or noise than large turbines and any attempt to show otherwise is simply scare tactics, NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard) or arbitrary speculation. There are lots of much more important sources of pollution to focus on ahead of wind or solar energy.
Standards
Commercial turbines need to comply with industrial engineering and high tension voltage standards and gird connection codes. Small wind operates and much lower voltages and currents where such standards are not applicable. Most large machines and any tower over 150ft need to comply with aeronautical lighting standards, none of which apply to small wind. Small wind electrical systems are already adequately covered by provincial electrical code, that is already pretty standardized across Canada and similar to most parts of the world. Grid connection is an option for small wind but is required for commercial machines . . . primarily because Big Wind cannot operate without the practically infinite load of the grid. Small wind, with an integral battery pack can easily manage these small local fluctuations without the need for the grid, so grid connection standards need not apply in most cases. There are times when UL Standard 1741 (a generally accepted grid connection standard) should apply, but as more and more consumers own and operate such systems throughout rural areas, the 1741 standard itself could become a hazard to the reliability and stability of the grid.
Zoning
Big wind effects many aspects of society since they take up real estate that is already in use for some other purpose. There are many fewer considerations needed to accept personally owned and operated small wind systems on private property. There is less value for wind in urban settings with dense population and stricter bylaws and zoning considerations. However; small wind in rural properties normally offer little zoning impact, certainly no more than a ham radio tower or a feed silo which are already commonly accepted and regulated structures. A significant benefit of rural siting for small wind and solar is that they offer clean renewable power at or near the ends of the distribution chain where transmission losses and power balancing can best benefit from local production.
Tax Treatment and Incentives
There are lots of additional taxes, subsidies and production incentives to consider when operating a commercial turbine. There are even seminars on the complexities of this bureaucracy to help business make decisions on new wind farm plans. None of these apply to small wind. For Small Wind, all existing taxes and tariffs are already built into the retail price of electricity. Unfortunately, any subsidies are also built in . . . some of which consumers cannot be exempt from, by virtue of how they are paid. Our federal taxes for example, pay subsidies for northern communities and pay for up to 60% of the price of their diesel electric power generation, that can cost in excess of 55 cents/kWhr. Previous Ontario governments spent "Billions" on nuclear power generation in the 60's and 70's that left them holding a huge debt and this province could have been considered bankrupt in 2002-2003 had they not chosen to arbitrarily off-load this debt to the consumer. They did this to "clear the slate" so to speak, for new nuclear spending for refurbishing existing reactors, possibly building new ones and adding other fossil fuel generators to carry the load when more polluting coal fired plants are shut down soon. All of this applies to Small Wind but in an inverse way. While there is only GST and PST direct taxation of Small Wind all these other taxes for energy that renewable producers don't use is still part of the system. On the bright side, at least in Ontario, people who own wind generators and produce their own clean energy do NOT pay debt on every kilowatt of energy it replaces.
Payback and the Value Proposition
This is the big one, and several previous articles have dealt with this aspect in more detail. Suffice it to say that, Big Wind differs substantially. For Big Wind the decision to build is strictly mathematical. It is a closed-end solution. It either works or it doesn't. Banks and trust companies will only fund such projects if they can show a projected line of profit after amortizing costs. For Small Wind though, it's like buying a house or boat. It's an emotional decision. The real "Net Present Value" of small wind money, at a certain interest rate, is an open-ended solution with a complexity far more intricate than any accountant would suggest. In order to come to a conclusion, any accounting calculation avoids considering the value of "a secure power supply" or the value of "independence from grid failures" or the value of "environmental stewardship". There is no formula for that, so the typical formula-based calculation is invalid, except in an arbitrary academic way, and the numbers apparently never add up to a value proposition. It's going to pay for itself in more ways than just a few cents per kilowatt. Remember, owning a small wind power plant is totally different than owning any other power generation business. As a private consumer you are replacing a "service" with a "product". This is quite unique in society. Instead of purchasing a new service from a different electrical supplier, you are buying product to provide the service yourself. Very different. You can't do that with any other energy source (like fossil fuel or hydro dams for example) . . . and a soon as everyone "gets" that, we can start treating consumers who take the initiative to make that investment, differently.
Everyone knows that a major source of renewable energy is available from wind turbines, all shapes and sizes of them. Politicians, bureaucrats, the media and the public all agree that wind turbines produce clean energy that contributes to lowering carbon emissions. Media stories and legislators alike seem to think wind is wind and small personal turbines are no different than the big commercial generators and so they treat them the same way. After all, small turbines are just small, less efficient versions of the big ones right! You need to go "big" to get the economies of scale right! . . WRONG . . . not just partly but completely WRONG! What they don't seem to realize is that there is virtually no comparison between the two sizes of turbines, not the technology or the materials, the value proposition, the price of energy they produce, not the taxes or the legislation, or the connection to the grid . . . practically nothing is the same, and yet they are most often treated as if they were. I've said before. The only two things large and small turbines have in common is the wind and bureaucracy . . . and I'm not sure those are two different things.
What I'd like to show you is that the differences are quite significant and that we need to start discussing them in light of those differences if we are ever to understand the value and place small wind occupies in the world of renewable energy. As long as we think they are similar all the attention will focus on Big Wind as the only cost effective way to generate energy from the wind. We need to understand their differences in order to overcome the bureaucratic obstacles that are currently holding back the small wind turbine market. Let's look at how they compare under several headings. Most everyone in the wind business has a definition of where "Big Wind" begins. For the purposes of this discussion it begins at around 10kW. Big wind is any turbine above 10kW that cannot operate without connection to the grid, and "Small Wind" are those turbine systems about 10kW or less that can operate either on or off grid as desired.
Technology
Big commercial turbines are massive, with rotors larger than the cross section of a football field. Their huge flexible blades are over 50M (150ft) long and their drives, torque converters, transmissions and power conversion systems are complex and may weigh several tons. Their blades need to be flexible because "wind sheer" is a problem. Wind Sheer occurs when air moves across itself at different speeds and directions. These rotors may be 20M (60ft) above the ground at the lowest part of the arc and over 120M (360ft) at the top. The wind up there moves faster and in a different direction, maybe 5-10mph faster than near the ground. The energy in the wind doubles every 2-3 mph below 30mph. The energy 20mph vs. 10 mph is not double but 8 times more, and so the stresses on the blades are significant. All this means the blades must be heavy and powerful but flexible at the same time allowing some of the energy to "spill" at the top of the arc and capturing more near the bottom. They also must have speed control to match the turbine rpm with the synchronous motor at 60 cycles so their energy can readily be matched to the grid. This is usually accomplished with a complex pitch mechanism and controller that manages the blade pitch as the wind speed and direction change. In order the orient into the wind large machines need sensors and a drive mechanism to keep the whole tower head pointing into wind. More technology . . . more complexity.
In order to get power down the wires to the ground the large commercial turbines run heavy copper cables that can wrap around one or two times and must be mechanically unwound occasionally during a calm period. The tower must be able to rotate 360 degrees to face the wind, but slip rings and brushes are just unworkable at the electrical current levels these machines generate. There are many different , and some quite advanced, fluids and lubricants needed for all the moving parts and control systems of a Big Wind turbine. There are also special lighting requirements but we'll get to those later. Blade and tower designers have developed hundreds of special material processes for forming and manufacturing these huge monsters. Designers continue to press the limits of materials and manufacturing as machines reach over 5 megawatts of power in size and the complexity of them increases.
Small wind, on the other hand, focuses on simplicity. Wind sheer is generally not an issue since blades are usually less than 2-3 meters long and difference in the power of the wind from top to bottom of the arc is minor. Small wind generally uses fixed pitch blades and very simple drives that may have 2-3 sealed bearings on a drive shaft as the only moving parts that have contact and need lubrication. Fix pitch props means the blade speed is not constant and the AC power generated is rectified into DC power and stored in batteries. Most importantly small wind blades are best if they are extremely stiff and do not flex, carrying the load along the whole length of the blade, making them more efficient and quieter than flexible blades. The blade technology and materials for small wind stiffness is very different. It used to be that designers thought "if it ain't heavy it won't last" and they point to some of the small wind success designs like the Jacobs turbines built in the 1930s many of which are still flying today. Jacobs turbines were built out of the iron and steel products available in the 30s and 40s, and they are very heavy. But the advent of carbon fiber and lightweight space age metals and materials of the 80s and 90s, with closer tolerances, has meant modern small turbine designers can take advantage of the advances in aerospace manufacturing processes, to produce lightweight reliable components.
Electrically, small wind is very different. Big Wind operates at 600v 60 cycle AC or higher and then step their voltage up to 44,000 v before connecting to the grid. Also, they must have a working grid to send their power to or they must shut down during a power failure. If the power fails they have no place to put their megawatts of energy and they would simply "melt down" like a nuclear reactor . . . with a lot less risk to public safety mind you. Small wind operates at 12, 24, or 48v usually, while some newer small wind systems are working at 120-240 v. The lower voltage is an advantage because you can store the energy in battery packs that are not too large. As well, at these low powers simple brush and slip ring mechanisms can allow automatic 360 degree rotation of the head into wind, without having to unwrap wires occasionally like the big boys do. Small wind can connect and synchronize with the grid if they want to, but the grid is not a requirement to operate like it is with big wind. Electrically, small wind is usually just a 3 phase "Y" or "Delta" alternator, much like your car alternator, but with some simple rectifier circuit to convert the AC output of the turbine to DC current so it can be stored in a battery pack. Batteries are very useful for small wind because it means you can capture all the available energy whenever the wind blows, even if you can't use it right away. Later you can take it from the batteries, a little bit or a lot at a time, even if there is no wind and no grid.
Simplicity and Reliability
The simplicity of small wind machines means a much higher Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) can be achieved. The more complex a machine is the more components and mechanisms it has, the more methods of failure it has, and the more likely it is to have a failure that can be significant. With redundant back up systems Big Wind can do what the Space Shuttle does. They can suffer a number of systems failures before it must shut down safely or have a catastrophic failure. We know however, that sometimes a chain of small events can result in catastrophe. With complexity comes cost and maintenance. With simplicity, Small Wind technology relies on fewer parts, simple direct drives and long-life bearings. These few reliable components assure operation at a much lower cost to manufacture as well as operate.
Production Forecasting
For a large commercial turbine to be funded it must prove that the wind resource is sufficient by doing a wind study that costs from $5,000-$50,000 or more and takes 12-18 months. For about $5,000 you can install a small wind system and evaluate the production directly rather than calculate the theoretical production from wind analysis. It's not practical to set up a large wind turbine for such a study. That's why wind analysis is the only alternative for Big Wind. Small wind site analysis, on the other hand, benefits more from the local placement and height of the tower on the property than testing various properties for the best location. Anemometer readings are more of an academic than economic interest for small wind.
Price of the Power
Big wind competes for sales at the wholesale price level while Small Wind replaces power at the retail price including all applicable taxes, transmission tariffs, delivery charges and in Ontario at least, Hydro Debt charges that are related to volume of use. Every kilowatt that you produce and use locally replaces the fully burdened cost of a kilowatt that an average consumer pays. Right now, the wholesale price a marketing agency like the Ontario IMO pays commercial Big Wind generators averages about 4-5 cents per kW and can actually range from 1-2 cents to over 30-40cents depending on time of day and supply and demand. ON the consumer side we now see many jurisdictions using a 2 or 3 tier rate structures whereby the consumer is charged a base rate for the first level of consumption and a higher rate for energy above that level. Example in Ontario; any power used above 750kWhrs/month in Ontario the consumer pays 5.9 cents/kWhr, so the blended base rate averages above 5cents depending on usage. Then you add tariffs and delivery charges plus PST and GST. Did you know that GST applies to the line losses? It's not a "good" nor a "service", you didn't get it but you paid tax on it. This two tier rate strategy is good for encouraging conservation but does not apply to small wind users except the net benefit is that every kilowatt produced and used locally offsets the more expensive 2nd tier power first, including tariffs and taxes.
Environmental Studies, Birds and Noise
Big wind like any commercial installation requires an environmental study, several thousand dollars and several months of effort to show that placing a big fan on a 50x50 piece of farm land will not harm the environment. This seems a little overkill in most instances because almost any flat open area suitable for large turbines is likely already subject to many forms of environmental stress such as farming, fertilizers or other human endeavour that has never needed such investigation before. It's ironic that little effort is made to require environmental assessment of obvious pollutants like coal and other fossil fuel burners that we know have a significant impact yet just as obviously beneficial sources such as sun and wind are put through rigorous environmental studies before they can be approved. Misguided people and groups try to hinder development with scare tactics like bird kills and noise pollution when these issues are at worst extremely minor and largely insignificant compared to the benefit. For example, high rise buildings and snowmobiles contribute to bird deaths and noise pollution at several thousands of times greater impact than any wind farm or modern small wind turbine yet there is virtually no effort made to protect birds from glass buildings or humans or screaming jet ski or snowmobile engine noise. Why pick on wind? In a quiet country setting, at 15-20mph, the leaves in the trees make more noise than a modern small turbine. Every outdoor cat manages a few bird kills every year. I have yet to attribute even a single bird kill to ANY small turbine installation I've ever seen. Small wind has an even smaller impact on birds or noise than large turbines and any attempt to show otherwise is simply scare tactics, NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard) or arbitrary speculation. There are lots of much more important sources of pollution to focus on ahead of wind or solar energy.
Standards
Commercial turbines need to comply with industrial engineering and high tension voltage standards and gird connection codes. Small wind operates and much lower voltages and currents where such standards are not applicable. Most large machines and any tower over 150ft need to comply with aeronautical lighting standards, none of which apply to small wind. Small wind electrical systems are already adequately covered by provincial electrical code, that is already pretty standardized across Canada and similar to most parts of the world. Grid connection is an option for small wind but is required for commercial machines . . . primarily because Big Wind cannot operate without the practically infinite load of the grid. Small wind, with an integral battery pack can easily manage these small local fluctuations without the need for the grid, so grid connection standards need not apply in most cases. There are times when UL Standard 1741 (a generally accepted grid connection standard) should apply, but as more and more consumers own and operate such systems throughout rural areas, the 1741 standard itself could become a hazard to the reliability and stability of the grid.
Zoning
Big wind effects many aspects of society since they take up real estate that is already in use for some other purpose. There are many fewer considerations needed to accept personally owned and operated small wind systems on private property. There is less value for wind in urban settings with dense population and stricter bylaws and zoning considerations. However; small wind in rural properties normally offer little zoning impact, certainly no more than a ham radio tower or a feed silo which are already commonly accepted and regulated structures. A significant benefit of rural siting for small wind and solar is that they offer clean renewable power at or near the ends of the distribution chain where transmission losses and power balancing can best benefit from local production.
Tax Treatment and Incentives
There are lots of additional taxes, subsidies and production incentives to consider when operating a commercial turbine. There are even seminars on the complexities of this bureaucracy to help business make decisions on new wind farm plans. None of these apply to small wind. For Small Wind, all existing taxes and tariffs are already built into the retail price of electricity. Unfortunately, any subsidies are also built in . . . some of which consumers cannot be exempt from, by virtue of how they are paid. Our federal taxes for example, pay subsidies for northern communities and pay for up to 60% of the price of their diesel electric power generation, that can cost in excess of 55 cents/kWhr. Previous Ontario governments spent "Billions" on nuclear power generation in the 60's and 70's that left them holding a huge debt and this province could have been considered bankrupt in 2002-2003 had they not chosen to arbitrarily off-load this debt to the consumer. They did this to "clear the slate" so to speak, for new nuclear spending for refurbishing existing reactors, possibly building new ones and adding other fossil fuel generators to carry the load when more polluting coal fired plants are shut down soon. All of this applies to Small Wind but in an inverse way. While there is only GST and PST direct taxation of Small Wind all these other taxes for energy that renewable producers don't use is still part of the system. On the bright side, at least in Ontario, people who own wind generators and produce their own clean energy do NOT pay debt on every kilowatt of energy it replaces.
Payback and the Value Proposition
This is the big one, and several previous articles have dealt with this aspect in more detail. Suffice it to say that, Big Wind differs substantially. For Big Wind the decision to build is strictly mathematical. It is a closed-end solution. It either works or it doesn't. Banks and trust companies will only fund such projects if they can show a projected line of profit after amortizing costs. For Small Wind though, it's like buying a house or boat. It's an emotional decision. The real "Net Present Value" of small wind money, at a certain interest rate, is an open-ended solution with a complexity far more intricate than any accountant would suggest. In order to come to a conclusion, any accounting calculation avoids considering the value of "a secure power supply" or the value of "independence from grid failures" or the value of "environmental stewardship". There is no formula for that, so the typical formula-based calculation is invalid, except in an arbitrary academic way, and the numbers apparently never add up to a value proposition. It's going to pay for itself in more ways than just a few cents per kilowatt. Remember, owning a small wind power plant is totally different than owning any other power generation business. As a private consumer you are replacing a "service" with a "product". This is quite unique in society. Instead of purchasing a new service from a different electrical supplier, you are buying product to provide the service yourself. Very different. You can't do that with any other energy source (like fossil fuel or hydro dams for example) . . . and a soon as everyone "gets" that, we can start treating consumers who take the initiative to make that investment, differently.
New TRUE-NORTH Downloads Section Coming
A New DOWNLOADS section of the web site is coming, where you'll be able to download all kinds of data including operators manuals in English and French as well as technical bulletins and usefull calculator toolsa . . .nd we'll let you know when it's available
A New DOWNLOADS section of the web site is coming, where you'll be able to download all kinds of data including operators manuals in English and French as well as technical bulletins and usefull calculator toolsa . . .nd we'll let you know when it's available
What to Expect in Icing Conditions
Recently you may have experienced a serious winter storm and gone down to the basement to check on the system . . . hummm not much power coming in! Yikes, no AMPS! . . what's going on? . . . you run up to the back window and squint through the swirling snow looking where the top of the pole should be in the dark . . . and wonder why your turbine is not producing power even though it seems windy enough. It may be just around dusk and you can hardly see it, but the thing just seems to be "barely turning". Or maybe it is turning but you know it should be really flying in this wind and it's not . . . Secretly you hope it's not broken. Well fear not (especially if you own a LAKOTA) it's probably just some icing conditions from a winter storm or an overnight frost that has accumulated on the blades.
Here's the "Frosted Blades" look . . . it's called "Hoar Frost". It happens when low speed very moist air builds up layers of super cool ice crystals on the blades over several hours. It covers the front side of the blade and changes the shape of the airfoil so it cannot develop lift and begin to fly. Even at 15-20mph the wind may not be strong enough to turn it. The frost on the blades has totally disrupted the airfoil . . this won't turn now or run at all until it burns off in the sun or sublimes off (goes directly to vapour) in dry windy air.
Recently you may have experienced a serious winter storm and gone down to the basement to check on the system . . . hummm not much power coming in! Yikes, no AMPS! . . what's going on? . . . you run up to the back window and squint through the swirling snow looking where the top of the pole should be in the dark . . . and wonder why your turbine is not producing power even though it seems windy enough. It may be just around dusk and you can hardly see it, but the thing just seems to be "barely turning". Or maybe it is turning but you know it should be really flying in this wind and it's not . . . Secretly you hope it's not broken. Well fear not (especially if you own a LAKOTA) it's probably just some icing conditions from a winter storm or an overnight frost that has accumulated on the blades.
Here's the "Frosted Blades" look . . . it's called "Hoar Frost". It happens when low speed very moist air builds up layers of super cool ice crystals on the blades over several hours. It covers the front side of the blade and changes the shape of the airfoil so it cannot develop lift and begin to fly. Even at 15-20mph the wind may not be strong enough to turn it. The frost on the blades has totally disrupted the airfoil . . this won't turn now or run at all until it burns off in the sun or sublimes off (goes directly to vapour) in dry windy air.
This is a similar icing event but notice the buildup on the back side of the blades. This happened when a VERY light "movement of air" came after a calm period and 180 degree wind shift. It was likely near calm but a definite shift from when the turbine was last running. This very moist and perhaps super saturated cold air caused a buildup on the back side or "lifting side" of the blade. This buildup disrupts the normal airflow and as a result you get no lift and no rotation, even in fairly strong winds. Again all we can do is hope for some warmer weather or at least some sun soon to burn it off and the turbine will start up on its own.
This is more severe clear or rime icing formed when freezing rain or wet snow strike the blades while turning. This machine is still running but turning quite slowly. Over a few minutes or hours it can build up very solid layers of ice that destroy the lift by changing the airfloil shape. Eventually if the mechanical action or centrifugal forces on the turning blades does not crack or shed the ice, the blades will slow and stop . . . next morning, the sun has come up but the temperature is still at or near freezing and the ice sheath on one of the blades has started to slide off, with the help of sun and gravity . . . Mid morning it's still hanging on, and the blades may just waggle back and forth in the wind, without enough energy to turn all the way around, until this icicle breaks off or melts. This happens more often from clear or rime icing, not Hoar Frost, so the heavier, more dense, ice may take longer to burn off than the frost in the one above, especially if the temperatures remain well below freezing. Arctic coastal locations are notorious for icing and heavy frosts, so turbines or any unheated outdoor equipment can often remain iced up for several days. Every temperature, humidity and wind variation changes these situations so frost and ice rarely behaves the same each time.
Jan 12 12:00 noon
Jan 12 12:00 noon
Lightweight Anchor Failure - A Christmas Present for the Test Centre
Developers don't always advertise their failures but our continuing quest for a lightweight inexpensive tower has lead to another hard lesson, this time on anchors. After nearly two years of operation the "alternate anchor" for the 25ft tower on out Test Centre sign, was sucked out of water saturated soil by a strong east wind. That gave our longevity test a serious headache when a major snow storm arrived from the east just before Christmas. Had the freeze happened before this storm we might have gotten away with it. . . . but then we might not have learned the "Soil Saturation Lesson"
We did not get any pictures unfortunately but the root cause (a secondary screw-in anchor, which it should not have been attached to) could have been avoided on the last check but no one suspected the soggy ground to be so sloppy and unstable just before a major eastern storm. Although the blades were toast the generator checked out fine in the shop even after the "face plant" and should be back up in a few days as soon as we get some time. Some Christmas present . . .
Developers don't always advertise their failures but our continuing quest for a lightweight inexpensive tower has lead to another hard lesson, this time on anchors. After nearly two years of operation the "alternate anchor" for the 25ft tower on out Test Centre sign, was sucked out of water saturated soil by a strong east wind. That gave our longevity test a serious headache when a major snow storm arrived from the east just before Christmas. Had the freeze happened before this storm we might have gotten away with it. . . . but then we might not have learned the "Soil Saturation Lesson"
We did not get any pictures unfortunately but the root cause (a secondary screw-in anchor, which it should not have been attached to) could have been avoided on the last check but no one suspected the soggy ground to be so sloppy and unstable just before a major eastern storm. Although the blades were toast the generator checked out fine in the shop even after the "face plant" and should be back up in a few days as soon as we get some time. Some Christmas present . . .