Wind industry sees big potential for little turbines

[Fledermaus]

Emerging markets
Large wind turbines present technological, political and investment challenges So some engineers are trying to solve the problem of harnessing energy sustainably by tacking in the opposite direction: They're thinking small.

The benefit of this kind of micro generation is that it can be deployed in so many places and – in certain situations – can be the cheapest energy in town. Small turbines of around 10-100 KW can be attached to houses, schools, industrial facilities and even boats and they have enjoyed their most success to date in developing countries. "By far the largest share of small wind power is located in China at this point," Gsänger told Deutsche Welle. China is the world's leader when it comes to building and installing small wind turbines. So far some 1.75 million Chinese have been connected to electricity this way................

The UK became one of the first major industrialized countries to promote energy from small wind turbines with a feed-in tariff last year. Since then, electricity from a certified facility in Great Britain has been compensated with 17 to 38 euro cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for the electricity it feeds back into the grid with small wind power - a lucrative prospect in this windswept region of Europe. Elsewhere the mood is changing too. An investment in a small wind turbine in Denmark can net a homeowner 28 cents per kWh. Meanwhile, wind power associations in Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Germany are lobbying their governments to establish similar rates for feed-in tariffs. The German Wind Energy Association is hoping for 15 to 22 cents per kWh.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14991873,00.html

[KT2000]

1. this is good

I live in an area that gets a strong wind most evenings. It seems like we are missing a great source of energy every day. Right now they prefer the huge wind farms that have the huge wind turbines. Maybe if they are smaller, they could be scattered around and serve immediate communities.

[Sal Minella]

2. Generation on-site by/for individual users.

I've been muttering and mumbling about this for years.

[Ed Suspicious]

3. The Wind Spire is one of my favorite ideas ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNudnI5tzf8&feature=related

[KT2000]

5. YES!! n/t

[madrchsod]

4. roof top blade turbines are used in many tall city buildings

[Nihil]

6. You must be wrong ... or some kind of covert pro-nuclear shill ...

... as I've been assured by knowledgable people on this forum
that small-scale wind is too inefficient & wasteful and that
the only future for wind is in huge megafarms distributed
around the country ...

:evilgrin:

On a more serious note, the points that shouldn't be missed
from the OP article are:

> Standards are also scarce, suggesting the industry will still need
> to go through a period of consolidation before it really begins to
> get noticed on the renewable energy scene.

The implication is that "Little Wind" is bad, "Big Wind" is good.
To me, that smacks of the traditional "Big Industry" players wanting
to shut out competition (as in practically every other field) but to
enlarge on that, again, will get you slandered for "misreading the market"
or something.


> Another problem also lies in measuring wind conditions accurately.
> Because customers for small turbines cannot typically field an army
> of specialists to measure wind conditions, overestimation of local
> conditions has led to disappointment among many small wind turbine owners.
>
> That's something national and international wind power associations say
> they hope to change though improved quality controls and better information
> for the public.

This is the critical point IMO.

The "home/school/small company" market is going to be at risk of the
more unscrupulous salesman than any major project (same as they are in
the solar thermal and solar PV markets at the moment) so the sooner that
the wind power associations get their "improved quality controls and better
information" out there, the more happy members of the public there will be
(and the fewer disappointed ones from being burned by the con-men).

Still, it is definitely a move in the right direction (that gets a rec from me).

:thumbsup: