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 4:7 Headlines: October 2006
Longbow Arrives in Canada
The long awaited OB1 continues to make progress on testing but is taking a back seat still to the newest LAKOTA variant called "LONGBOW". TRUE-NORTH Power received the FIRST Lakota Longbow in North America, as an option to the 2006 LAKOTA SC (sometimes referred to in Canada as Storm Chaser). As you can see from the photos below the Longbow has longer blades with an interesting angled TIPLET . . . the value of which cannot be revealed just yet. I'll just say it's being patented and offers some significant advantages over standard blade tip profiles. The "Dove Grey" paint scheme and "Marine Blue" nose cone make it quite distinct and attractive. Inside it carries and advanced rotor and the same dual brush set as the 2006 LAKOTA . . but sports a loooonger tail boom and additional tail feathers . . . actually . . if you look closely, its the original LAKOTA tail inverted with with addtional lower stabilizers. Designed specifically to take advantage of the lower wind Eurpoean and Asian markets, it promises to be a popular seller here in high wind sites in Canada as well. It was first displayed at the Ontario International Plowing Match in Peterborough Ontario where it demonstrated some great power in 10-15 mph wind giving a consistent 4-6 amps@24v at around 10-12mph (about 100-150 watts). TRUE-NORTH began instrumented testing at the FREE Wind Test Centre in Ferndale last week and we'll report more on it in the next Newsletter. Here are some early shots . . notice the closeup of the tower mount . . this new stainless compression coupler is standard with Longbow. This coupler is already in service on Standard 2006 model LAKOTAs in tough locations like North Sea drilling rig operations.
[missing additional image]
The long awaited OB1 continues to make progress on testing but is taking a back seat still to the newest LAKOTA variant called "LONGBOW". TRUE-NORTH Power received the FIRST Lakota Longbow in North America, as an option to the 2006 LAKOTA SC (sometimes referred to in Canada as Storm Chaser). As you can see from the photos below the Longbow has longer blades with an interesting angled TIPLET . . . the value of which cannot be revealed just yet. I'll just say it's being patented and offers some significant advantages over standard blade tip profiles. The "Dove Grey" paint scheme and "Marine Blue" nose cone make it quite distinct and attractive. Inside it carries and advanced rotor and the same dual brush set as the 2006 LAKOTA . . but sports a loooonger tail boom and additional tail feathers . . . actually . . if you look closely, its the original LAKOTA tail inverted with with addtional lower stabilizers. Designed specifically to take advantage of the lower wind Eurpoean and Asian markets, it promises to be a popular seller here in high wind sites in Canada as well. It was first displayed at the Ontario International Plowing Match in Peterborough Ontario where it demonstrated some great power in 10-15 mph wind giving a consistent 4-6 amps@24v at around 10-12mph (about 100-150 watts). TRUE-NORTH began instrumented testing at the FREE Wind Test Centre in Ferndale last week and we'll report more on it in the next Newsletter. Here are some early shots . . notice the closeup of the tower mount . . this new stainless compression coupler is standard with Longbow. This coupler is already in service on Standard 2006 model LAKOTAs in tough locations like North Sea drilling rig operations.
[missing additional image]
Sky Generation Triples Power
Our BIG WIND friends and neighbours across the road . . . Glen Estill and company of Sky Generation . . .have just tripled their power capacity by installing two of the latest Vestas machines. No details on the performance yet but we saw them go up in a matter of a few days here last month. They have a larger diameter rotor and a smaller generator than the original Vestas 80 that's been running for a few years now. That can translate into more kilowatt hours/month production by making better use of the lower winds when they are available and just limiting the top end power when the winds are too strong. . . which may not be as often some places. Every site differs in power and frequency of high and low winds so you really need to do some significant wind power studies to determine the best machine and generator model for the job. That very necessary "big wind planning" is usually overkill for personal power owners, who will prospect for power on their own property who are primarily looking for the best height where there is consistent find laminar flow (ie non-turbulent wind). When you know where that is it's then a matter of siting and tower height, municipal by-laws and budget to determine how big or what type or size of turbine can suit your needs. When combined with local obstacle and terrain analysis of the property, a quick study of the flow projected around 100ft (90M) above ground from area wind maps is usually enough to determine if small wind make sense at a particular location.
Now with these two new "big boys" the Friday tour on our weekend Wind & Solar Workshops will be even more interesting.
Here are a few recent photos that no one has seen yet
Our BIG WIND friends and neighbours across the road . . . Glen Estill and company of Sky Generation . . .have just tripled their power capacity by installing two of the latest Vestas machines. No details on the performance yet but we saw them go up in a matter of a few days here last month. They have a larger diameter rotor and a smaller generator than the original Vestas 80 that's been running for a few years now. That can translate into more kilowatt hours/month production by making better use of the lower winds when they are available and just limiting the top end power when the winds are too strong. . . which may not be as often some places. Every site differs in power and frequency of high and low winds so you really need to do some significant wind power studies to determine the best machine and generator model for the job. That very necessary "big wind planning" is usually overkill for personal power owners, who will prospect for power on their own property who are primarily looking for the best height where there is consistent find laminar flow (ie non-turbulent wind). When you know where that is it's then a matter of siting and tower height, municipal by-laws and budget to determine how big or what type or size of turbine can suit your needs. When combined with local obstacle and terrain analysis of the property, a quick study of the flow projected around 100ft (90M) above ground from area wind maps is usually enough to determine if small wind make sense at a particular location.
Now with these two new "big boys" the Friday tour on our weekend Wind & Solar Workshops will be even more interesting.
Here are a few recent photos that no one has seen yet
Choosing a System Voltage 12, 24 or 48v
Small wind turbines typically operate at 12, 24 or 48v which is also the system voltage. Some turbines may even be 32v or "selectable" or ever higher voltage 180-300v output. The question always come up "which one should I choose for my system?". Well, that depends in a few things but it's a pretty simple decision that mostly has to do with the maximum power you plan to use at any given time. Maximum power is limited by the current required for the minimum wire size and circuit protection required for that current. Watts = volts x amps. . . . If you need a lot of watts at once and you'll need either a lot of volts or amps, or both. Remember we are talking about POWER here not ENERGY. Energy in kWhrs is power over over a 1hr time period. Wire and circuit protection is about the maximum power required and with most appliances having a fixed voltage it's the current flow that must be limited. Think of it like a garden hose. If you have a lot of water to transport quickly (a lot of power) you'll need either a lot of pressure (voltage) or a very large hose (larger wire) to get a certain volume of water (power in watts) through the hose. Electricity is the same way, so if you only ever need a couple of thousand watts of power at any given moment then the pressure (voltage) does not have to be that high to get the rate of flow (watts) you want. For that though you may need some larger than normal wire. For that level of power 12v inverters will do fine. If however you need 3-6kW (1000s of Watts) then you need either a higher current (Amps) for the same power (watts). . . . and for that you'll need either larger wire or higher voltage say 24v . . . but now if you want even higher power like over 7-10kw all at once then you need a higher pressure (voltage) . . like 48v to push that amount of energy through reasonably sized wire. That's why electric clothes dryers are always 240v because they need to operate at 5000watt or higher through #10 or #8AWG wire. You could do it at lower voltages but then the wire would have to be very large . . and in fact too large to be practical. This also means you'll need huge expensive circuit breaker protection and other high current carrying components that also become impractical.
With that basic limitation then, there are other considerations that come into play, like how far away your turbine or solar panels need to be (DC current loses some energy in heat because small wire offers resistance that turns some of the current flow into heat), or how expensive an inverter you are willing to purchase. Very inexpensive 12v, modified sine wave inverters, cost less than $100, and these will operate lights and many small appliances who's combined power required is under 1 or 2,000 watts or so. The 24 and 48v inverters are generally more expensive because, not only are they PURE sine wave inverters and produce over 2000 watts but they have other features such as "battery charging, generator start or grid tie" etc. If all you want is a small amount of inexpensive power for a couple of kilowatts of lights, a small motor, microwave, tv, phones or fans for a cottage, trailer or boat, then all you need is a simple hundred dollar 12v inverter and 12v turbine or solar panels. If you want to run your new energy efficient grid-tied or off-grid home with a peak demand of 6-7kilowatts then you need 24v or perhaps even a 48v system to supply that level of power. This also means then that you are using a lot of power and you'll need a lot more battery unless you only care to be grid-tied with a PV solar system. If you are not planning to grid-tied but mainly want grid power as a back up or no grid power at all . . . then . . If you want to have that kind of power level (over 3-5kWpeak) than plan for a significant amount of battery storage to assure there is enough reserve power for getting through those calm or dull days. This requirement then also demands a 24 or 48v system voltage be selected.
In general higher voltage systems can carry more power (watts) on smaller wire because the pressure (voltage) is higher. . . but they are more expensive and feature rich systems.
Small wind turbines typically operate at 12, 24 or 48v which is also the system voltage. Some turbines may even be 32v or "selectable" or ever higher voltage 180-300v output. The question always come up "which one should I choose for my system?". Well, that depends in a few things but it's a pretty simple decision that mostly has to do with the maximum power you plan to use at any given time. Maximum power is limited by the current required for the minimum wire size and circuit protection required for that current. Watts = volts x amps. . . . If you need a lot of watts at once and you'll need either a lot of volts or amps, or both. Remember we are talking about POWER here not ENERGY. Energy in kWhrs is power over over a 1hr time period. Wire and circuit protection is about the maximum power required and with most appliances having a fixed voltage it's the current flow that must be limited. Think of it like a garden hose. If you have a lot of water to transport quickly (a lot of power) you'll need either a lot of pressure (voltage) or a very large hose (larger wire) to get a certain volume of water (power in watts) through the hose. Electricity is the same way, so if you only ever need a couple of thousand watts of power at any given moment then the pressure (voltage) does not have to be that high to get the rate of flow (watts) you want. For that though you may need some larger than normal wire. For that level of power 12v inverters will do fine. If however you need 3-6kW (1000s of Watts) then you need either a higher current (Amps) for the same power (watts). . . . and for that you'll need either larger wire or higher voltage say 24v . . . but now if you want even higher power like over 7-10kw all at once then you need a higher pressure (voltage) . . like 48v to push that amount of energy through reasonably sized wire. That's why electric clothes dryers are always 240v because they need to operate at 5000watt or higher through #10 or #8AWG wire. You could do it at lower voltages but then the wire would have to be very large . . and in fact too large to be practical. This also means you'll need huge expensive circuit breaker protection and other high current carrying components that also become impractical.
With that basic limitation then, there are other considerations that come into play, like how far away your turbine or solar panels need to be (DC current loses some energy in heat because small wire offers resistance that turns some of the current flow into heat), or how expensive an inverter you are willing to purchase. Very inexpensive 12v, modified sine wave inverters, cost less than $100, and these will operate lights and many small appliances who's combined power required is under 1 or 2,000 watts or so. The 24 and 48v inverters are generally more expensive because, not only are they PURE sine wave inverters and produce over 2000 watts but they have other features such as "battery charging, generator start or grid tie" etc. If all you want is a small amount of inexpensive power for a couple of kilowatts of lights, a small motor, microwave, tv, phones or fans for a cottage, trailer or boat, then all you need is a simple hundred dollar 12v inverter and 12v turbine or solar panels. If you want to run your new energy efficient grid-tied or off-grid home with a peak demand of 6-7kilowatts then you need 24v or perhaps even a 48v system to supply that level of power. This also means then that you are using a lot of power and you'll need a lot more battery unless you only care to be grid-tied with a PV solar system. If you are not planning to grid-tied but mainly want grid power as a back up or no grid power at all . . . then . . If you want to have that kind of power level (over 3-5kWpeak) than plan for a significant amount of battery storage to assure there is enough reserve power for getting through those calm or dull days. This requirement then also demands a 24 or 48v system voltage be selected.
In general higher voltage systems can carry more power (watts) on smaller wire because the pressure (voltage) is higher. . . but they are more expensive and feature rich systems.
Maximizing Solar PV Production without Net Metering
Most people assume that Net metering, (ie pushing excess power back to the grid and using it later), is the ONLY or "best" solution for personal renewable energy (RE) systems. Is may seem so at first glance. . . you don't need a large battery . . or any battery at all perhaps. . . the grid is an infinite storage medium for a small monthly connect charge and the utilities generally allow you to do it. But, there are a number of considerations that may not make it that attractive in the long run. Here in Ontario at least, they will never pay you for that power and at the end of each billing period the utility meter is reset to zero and any "banked" energy is lost with no compensation. If you do that a few times a year you're wasting a fair bit of that precious energy your expensive system is collecting for FREE. If you happen to have had some good solar production over the summer months and now have an excess that you plan to use in the fall, it's gone. If you often have serious power outages then your RE system is useless without battery backup when it does fail . . because it can't operate without the utility power. On the other hand, if you have "some" batteries and the solar production is such that your batteries are always full then, without net metering, your solar controller will simply ignore the excess production and you loose that too. . . so what do do? . . how can I make sure all the power I'm collecting is available of use and not wasted? Do I just buy more batteries or what?
Here are some other considerations . . .There is always a contract and a pretty serious legal commitment to the utility when you Net-meter and some people would rather be self-sufficient during outages and have their own assured power but still stay connected and use utility power, from time to time, as a convenience. The way to do that is to have enough battery to power your essential loads, for however long you think you might be without utility power. Then, when you have grid power you can cycle the top storage capacity with your daily solar production and home demand. Doing this ensure you have emergency power when you need it but also means that your solar production is always being captured and is never or rarely "thrown away" as can happen with no roll-over allowed in net-metering . . . or without net-metering, when your batteries are full but there's still lots of sun.
To do this, select an inverter panel that has an ability to connect and disconnect from the grid. That is, take power from the grid when it's needed or isolate your system from the grid when you have sufficient RE power. Such an inverter does not need to have the ability to FEED power back to the grid but one that can, does not need to be configured to do so . . . and so you don't NEED to contract with or even talk to you local utility to use one. A Foronius or Xantrex grid-tie inverter will not be able to power your house without the utility inter-tie, while the Outback or MagnaSine inverters may or may not have the grid-tie feature . . . but Outback offers a mode called HBX or High Battery Transfer mode. This is the ability to switch back and forth between grid and internal battery power automatically based on battery state. When the battery is low it goes looking for the utility power and connects to it automatically, but when batteries are full and the RE energy is sufficient, it will disconnect from the utiltiy and use it's own internal power for a while. The Outback HBX mode is designed for this purpose while the MagnaSine switching is more designed for RV or marine use where the user simply "plugs in" to utility power occasionally and the inverter initiates a recharge cycle on the batteries when they are not travelling and plugged into utility power.
Both Outback or MagnaSine mount easily on the new E-Panels produced by Midnight Solar. These panels make a nice simple, compact, integrated installation and either inverter produces really clean pure sine wave power. Outback currently has more flexible controller software options for home applications but if you don't plan to net-meter then MagnaSine offers about 500watts more power and a more powerful charger at less cost. If you want to stay connected based on battery state with a MagnaSine then you'll have to add an additional 120v relay and have it triggered by the MX60 Solar Controller built-in AUX relay. That will allow the MX 60 to decide whether it has enough power coming from the solar panels to disconnect from the grid and run on internal power. In the Outback inverters, this is the built in feature known as HBX mode. The decision then is around how much of my reserve battery capacity do I want to cycle through before switching back to utility power? Normally, I'd like to have at least 80% battery and preferably 90% if I care more about power failures than getting every kilowatt out of my panels. That way when there is sun the system will capture it and store it in the space left in the battery . . . .When the sun is not there, the batteries will never be less than that 80-90% full in case of a power failure. Now the question is how big a battery do I need to be able to do that. That depends on your demand and production capacity. You should size the batteries so that the 10 or 20% spare space you plan to cycle is about equal to one day's solar PV production. . . and if that's not possible then consider if you want to pay for more batteries or perhaps set that cycling threshold at 30% and be satisfied that in worst case scenario you may be left with batteries that might only be 70% full when you have an unexpected outage.
There's ALWAYS a trade off when you make these decisions and eventually they all boil down to money. One other consideration with MagnaSine inverters is the control . . It's single knob selector is great human engineering but it lacks the ability to turn the charger OFF when there is power available but you want the soalr to do the chargin no the grid. You can set it as low as 10% not not OFF. These inverters were originally designed for off-grid use where you either plug into the "shore power" or turn on a gas generator to replenish then. As a result, the designers thought that when you HAVE shore power available then you obviously MUST want to immediately start charging until the batteries are full. But this is not the case in our "Grid Connected" house where we want the Solar PV to decide if we want power from the grid or not. . . The MagnaSine controller's minimum 10% charge rate means it will ALWAYS take power from the grid whenever it "sees" utility power until the batteries are full . . . . so we asked the guys at MagnaSine for an OFF switch and they quickly responded with a special "Zero Charge" controller that does the trick. I'm not sure if this will be available as a general controller option but if more people keep asking for it then maybe they'll make it a standard feature. I was talking to Robin and Bob Gudgel this summer, (the designers of much of the MX60, Outback enclosures and now MagnaSine and E-Panel equipment) . . .It appears they've got a lot more features and products up their sleeve that will added to the Midnight Solar and MagnaSine product suite soon.
Where does OPG get its Power?
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is the principal power supplier for Ontario, and capable of supplying about 22,000 megawatts of power per hour. They get their power from lots of places and make it available to various utilities and resellers that in turn suppply it to us. Power comes from Niagara Falls and dozens of smaller hydro dams up north. These are about the cleanest energy sources available, if you don't have to build dams and flood places to get the water drop you need. Then there are coal and gas fired plants plus those "clean" . . "clear" . . nu"clear" plants. . . so called "clean" because when they run they don't normally produce a lot of emissions except heat and electricity. Unfortunately, when unexpected emissions do happen they are pretty serious. Technically, OPG owns all these assets including Bruce Nuclear that they lease to another company Bruce Power . . which I believe is a Limited partnership with British Petroleum and other private investor groups? Does anyone know how that works? BP may not be part of that consortium at present . . not sure. . . Anyway, its a lot of power and in recent years the OPA (Ontario Power Authority) has allowed private enterprise to offer their own power form various sources such as wind or solar or biomass . . . all of which compete with OPG in the open market through the Independent Electrical Systems Operator (IESO) who act as a marketing board or "energy trading house" by establishing a market price for wholesale power and then responding to demand by taking locally generated power and then buying imported power whenever our demand out-strips our Ontario Supply.
The new Standard Offer Contract (SOC) here in Ontario, is meant to allow private enterprise a means to compete by offering a fixed price or guaranteed price for the power they generate. Part of the problem facing power generators is that "the energy market" is a very tenuous thing and suppliers don't control the demand . . we the PUBLIC do . . as a result, unless you've got VERY deep pockets and PATIENT money it's hard to build a business case that works when there is so much government control of price and regulations. When we "the public" ask for more power by turning up the heat or forgetting to turn down the air conditioner, we force OPG and IESO to go looking for more power and if they can't produce it in Ontario, at a controlled price, then they are forced to buy it at what ever price those who have it want . . . and sometimes that's a bunch . . . like a year ago October 05 . . .when the only extra power available was from our neighbours to the south and New York had an excess of available power but was only willing to part with it for $1.08 PER KILOWATT HOUR . . . and yet here we are on Oct 2006 and today the average price for the month is barely 5 cents and the actual price today at 2 pm Saturday is 3.75 cents.
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is the principal power supplier for Ontario, and capable of supplying about 22,000 megawatts of power per hour. They get their power from lots of places and make it available to various utilities and resellers that in turn suppply it to us. Power comes from Niagara Falls and dozens of smaller hydro dams up north. These are about the cleanest energy sources available, if you don't have to build dams and flood places to get the water drop you need. Then there are coal and gas fired plants plus those "clean" . . "clear" . . nu"clear" plants. . . so called "clean" because when they run they don't normally produce a lot of emissions except heat and electricity. Unfortunately, when unexpected emissions do happen they are pretty serious. Technically, OPG owns all these assets including Bruce Nuclear that they lease to another company Bruce Power . . which I believe is a Limited partnership with British Petroleum and other private investor groups? Does anyone know how that works? BP may not be part of that consortium at present . . not sure. . . Anyway, its a lot of power and in recent years the OPA (Ontario Power Authority) has allowed private enterprise to offer their own power form various sources such as wind or solar or biomass . . . all of which compete with OPG in the open market through the Independent Electrical Systems Operator (IESO) who act as a marketing board or "energy trading house" by establishing a market price for wholesale power and then responding to demand by taking locally generated power and then buying imported power whenever our demand out-strips our Ontario Supply.
The new Standard Offer Contract (SOC) here in Ontario, is meant to allow private enterprise a means to compete by offering a fixed price or guaranteed price for the power they generate. Part of the problem facing power generators is that "the energy market" is a very tenuous thing and suppliers don't control the demand . . we the PUBLIC do . . as a result, unless you've got VERY deep pockets and PATIENT money it's hard to build a business case that works when there is so much government control of price and regulations. When we "the public" ask for more power by turning up the heat or forgetting to turn down the air conditioner, we force OPG and IESO to go looking for more power and if they can't produce it in Ontario, at a controlled price, then they are forced to buy it at what ever price those who have it want . . . and sometimes that's a bunch . . . like a year ago October 05 . . .when the only extra power available was from our neighbours to the south and New York had an excess of available power but was only willing to part with it for $1.08 PER KILOWATT HOUR . . . and yet here we are on Oct 2006 and today the average price for the month is barely 5 cents and the actual price today at 2 pm Saturday is 3.75 cents.