Design guidance request [RE-wrenches]

[Randy Brooks]

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Allan,

I would also recommend the Bergey XL.1 (although I think Ray is 
mistaken - the XL.1 rectifies wild AC in the turbine nacelle and sends 
24vDC down the tower) or the Abundant Renewable Energy 
(www.abundantre.com) ARE 110.  The ARE 110 has a greater swept area and 
produces better in light winds, in my opinion, so it depends on the 
wind resource at the site.  Manuals for both recommend wire size for 
various distances, and 350' is not out of line.

I'd also recommend the OutBack systems for a hybrid wind/PV system.

You would want an engineer to confirm the existing windmill tower is 
adequate for the wind turbine you select.  Thrust load data is 
available from each manufacturer.  And you will probably need to buy or 
manufacture a tower top stub to mount the wind turbine and allow the 
turbine blades to clear the existing tower.  Depending on terrain, 
trees and buildings, 80' may not be tall enough.   Also, wind pumper 
towers are usually located where there is water to pump, not 
necessarily the best wind site.  It would be worthwhile to compare 
purchase of a new, tilt-up, wind turbine tower in a better location vs. 
the cost of modifying and less production an existing tower.

Hope these thoughts are helpful.  Sounds like a fun project.

take care,

Randy Brooks
Brooks Solar, Inc.
140 Columbia View
Chelan, WA  98816
509-682-8718
Randy at BrooksSolar.com

On Jan 3, 2007, at 2:38 PM, Allan Sindelar wrote:

>
> Wrenches,
> We do relatively little off-grid wind; mostly keeping a few of Windy's 
> old
> Jake installations from the 80s spinning. Santa Fe County has a 35' 
> height
> restriction and lots of sun, so we don't get too many wind 
> installations.
> Today I got a lead call that I want to be prepared for (coming in on 
> Friday)
> and I am requesting a little advice.
>
> The customer planned a ranch for grid extension, 1 3/4 miles at $48K 
> and
> then couldn't get the easement. He thinks he needs about a 3kW array, 
> but
> has also asked about wind. He has an existing water pumping windmill 
> on a
> tower he says is at least 80'; so far so good. The water pumper served 
> this
> ranch for years, but is disabled now, replaced by a 2HP submersible 
> pump
> that runs off a welder/generator to fill a stock tank from time to 
> time. The
> windmill tower is 300-350' from the house and the rest of the power 
> system,
> and he asked if he could use it for a wind charger at that distance. I 
> was
> generally encouraging, but need to be better prepared.
>
>> From this basic information, it sounds like a hybrid PV/wind would be 
>> a good
> bet. My first idea is a Windy Boy AC-coupled to a Sunny Island (or 
> Outback),
> along with sufficient and redundant dump load to prevent overcharging 
> and
> overspeeding. Is this a reasonable approach?
>
> But my main question is: what's a better way? Assuming we want to use 
> the
> existing water pumper tower (and should we?), how should we set up for 
> an
> assumed 400' run?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Allan at Positive Energy
>
>
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