[RE-wrenches] small grid-tie wind

Phil Schneider phil at CEsolar.com
Tue Dec 23 13:31:55 PST 2008


This is similar to our experience.  The price tag of wind sometimes looks
appealing, but it is hard to convince a potential buyer that it is going to
cost them much more than PV over 25 years for the equivalent kWhs.  I am
putting an increasing effort into steering prospects towards PV.

I will say that Proven wind turbines stand out to us in the small wind
turbine world.  Very solid construction and a well thought out design that
has been continuously improved for almost 20 years.  They have largely
stayed out of the electronics side of things and left that up to SMA
(they¹ve made a few inverters).  We have installed one and are working on
another.  However, you pay for what you get, and if you look at $/kWh, you
have to have a very very good wind site to make the Proven more economically
attractive than PV.  It is still a machine with fast moving parts that lives
a hard life on top of that tower.

P.

Phil Schneider, system engineer
Creative Energies
www.CreativeEnergies.biz
307.332.3410 Lander, WY
208.354.3001 Victor, ID




From: "Wind-sun.com" <windsun at wind-sun.com>
Reply-To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 10:57:20 -0700
To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] small grid-tie wind

Our sales in dollar amount over the past couple of years are probably around
4% wind and 80% solar (the rest is misc batteries etc).

Of that 4%, I would guess that it accounts for around 15% of our problems,
warranty, phone and email time spent.

While some brands are worse than others, the simple fact is that wind is
overhyped as being cheaper, especially when people look at the inflated
claims of power output that nearly all manufacturers are guilty of. Add to
that that people usually over estimate how much wind they have, poor siting,
and the mechanical nature of the beasts, and it creates a lot more issues
than solar does.
............................................................................
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Northern Arizona Wind & Sun - Electricity From The Sun
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