Every nascent industry has its growing pains, the missteps that emerge as its technologies mature and small wind is no exception. A dearth of standards and accountability has led to widespread misinformation, exaggeration and outright lies. How is the average consumer to sort it all out?
It’s relatively easy and simple to make a wind turbine spin. It’s vastly more difficult to make one that reliably produces significant energy and is commercially viable. Several factors contribute to this complexity, such where the unit is sited, interactions between power and electronics and a lack of industry standards for power production claims. One Massachusetts study found that manufacturers of horizontal axis wind turbines were overstating expected output by three-to-four times! Not a recipe for customer happiness.
What the industry needs is performance accountability so customers know what they’re buying and what to expect and a system for verifying that manufacturers are actually delivering on their claims. What can’t be controlled is the wind. What can be controlled is how a given technology performs under a specific set of conditions. The best way to reduce risk for customers is to provide clear, transparent and easy to understand reporting on turbine performance in the actual environmental conditions being experienced.
Helix Wind Corp. has developed a proprietary Wind Turbine Monitoring System (WTMS) that helps customers make sure that they are getting what they’re paying for. The WTMS attaches to the wind turbine and an anemometer and reports to the customer the vital data needed through the internet. The WTMS provides Helix and the customer with real-time performance data to ensure proper functioning and output. It reports a host of important operating metrics, such as wind speed, energy production, temperature, grid frequency, among others. By monitoring, the customer can document the unit’s uptime, reliability and performance.
For the small wind industry to realize its full potential as part of the renewable energy equation it needs to mature. Making sure that technologies work as advertised is an important step in this evolution.
***Ian Gardner holds a B.S. in Pre-Med from Davidson College, NC, and an MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA. Ian's early career included extensive international private power work on Duke Energy's development team. Subsequently, he was the lead analyst for the Boston Consulting Group's International Energy and Utilities practice group, SF. For the next two years Ian worked in Latin America, Europe and Australia on electric and natural gas projects. After completing his MBA, he led several startups in the broadband media and wireless spaces. He also, worked for two years in business planning and development for The Esalen Institute, Big Sur.
