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alistair
Proven 6kw wind turbine mast
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Alistair Harley - 2008-10-21 06:57:59 | ||||||
| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | BigSkeff - 2008-10-21 22:42:27 | ||||||
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Not much but somewhere to start. --- Planet 'B' presumed non existent. |
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | Paul Turner - 2008-10-22 18:42:59 | ||||||
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Be careful as using another mast may well affect the warranty. -- Paul at Carbon Free Energy |
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | Bryan Rendall - 2008-10-26 17:51:22 | ||||||
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Alistair,
Unless you are a structural engineer, don't even think about a home made tower (or a cloned one) - Theres an awful lot more to a wind turbine tower than a bit of steel holding it up in the air. Resonance, making sure the natural frequency doesn't clash with the excitation frequency of the turbine, fatigue analysis to name but 3.... We've heard of a number of folk doing their own thing and trying non manufacturer supplied towers and it ALWAYS ends in grief. Manufacturers put a lot of effort into making sure towers are compatible with the turbines, for good reasons, so its a lot less hassle just to use those towers in the long run. Cheers
Bryan |
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | Alistair Harley - 2008-10-26 18:11:52 | ||||||
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thanks for the advice. What I am trying to achieve of course is a lower total purchase for a british made and supplied grid connected wind turbine. Prices are seemingly huge for a renewable energy resource. Paying so much is difficult to justify when balanced against any potential return. I know the return cannot be purely financial when you consider the bigger picture, but it still has to be paid for and my name is not Abravomich -- alistair |
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | Bryan Rendall - 2008-10-26 18:27:24 | ||||||
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Hi Alistair,
Theres more though to making for a profitable installation than getting the capital cost as low as possible! If you maximise production over the lifetime of the turbine, you can make a big difference on the financial model. Several ways you can do this... 1st is to pick a high performing turbine that will deliver the maximum number of kWh for the wind resource 2nd is to pick a turbine that has a very high reliability - They aren't paying themselves back if they are sitting shutdown for months on end waiting on spare parts, and keep breaking down year on year. 3rd is to place it on the best site possible! We've seen some folk here in Orkney who have bought very cheap turbines and imported them themselves. I heard of one that was installed in July this year, and lasted just 11 days before a typical Orkney summer breeze destroyed it! - I doubt if would have paid for itself in that short time, irrespective of how cheap it was!
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | Alistair Harley - 2008-10-26 19:06:43 | ||||||
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tell me more.........for a 5kw model? who can tell me about reliability? I need a wind turbine for the Isle of Lewis........next to the shore. Forgive me for asking.....do you work for any wind turbine manufacturer? -- alistair |
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | Colin - 2008-10-26 20:25:26 | ||||||
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Iskra, Proven or Eoltec would be the logical choices I suspect.
The mast is of course a large mass of galvanised steel, and with metal costs as they are is going to be expensive. It also is likely to be designed for a life of 20 years +. I doubt you'd do it as well cheaper yourself.
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | Alistair Harley - 2008-10-27 07:30:28 | ||||||
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One of the biggest UK mast manufacturers has already quoted a 'rough' price for a mast which is more than half the price of the Proven retail price. All I have to do provide drawings of the mast and specifications of loads as well as any additional loads caused by oscillations. When you see the prices of foreign wind turbines you wonder at the wide disparity.......it cant all be laid at the door of cheap labour. The heart of all turbines is the generator..........the UK wind turbine makers......do they buy theres from outside UK? From China?? A generator doesnt have many moving parts so what can go wrong with them once installed. What are the unreliability problems with Chinese/foreign wind turbines or is this UK protectionism.....ie..slag the opposition with unfounded criticism to protect UK business and maintain high pricing. £20,000 is too, too much for a 5kw wind turbine.......which is an extremely good enough reason to opt for a foreign competitor who may be selling a turbine with an identical generator as a UK manufacturer -- alistair |
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | Stuart - 2008-10-27 09:49:14 | ||||||
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The pound seems to be loosing a great deal of value at the moment and will raise the price of imported turbines soon, if you are going to buy one I would suggest you do it now before prices are adjusted. -- Stuart |
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | Alistair Harley - 2008-10-27 21:44:37 | ||||||
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http://www.euroclimatecentre.com
These wind turbines are cheaper than UK ones......does anyone have any experience of these? |
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | Alistair Harley - 2008-10-28 08:29:10 | ||||||
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A major uk mast manufacturer has quoted a rough estimate of more than half the retail price for a Proven mast. Paying £20,000+ for a 5kw turbine can mean up to 20 years payback time. I am 61 and could be dead or in a nursing home before I get a return........its not a good deal which ever way you look at it. Its all very well considering the benefits to the environment, but to afford it first is a major hurdle to overcome. The actual generators used by UK manufacturers in their turbines may even be made in those countries whose products we can easily describe as cheap and unreliable. Proven and Iskra.........I wonder which manufacturer makes their generators? -- alistair |
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | BigSkeff - 2008-10-28 23:48:24 | ||||||
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You could always build your own tower and turbine. See OTHERPOWER building a 17 footer and it's tower maybe then it would make economic good sense and be built in the UK.
By the way who is this tower manufacturer ? I looked and could never find one.
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | Alistair Harley - 2008-10-29 07:38:40 | ||||||
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Its a national UK manufacturer who usually make street light poles. They were extremely helpful and didnt demand I bought lots of them. They gave a lot of helpful advice and asked all the right questions relating to the specific stresses and loads relevant to wind turbine masts -- alistair |
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | Alistair Harley - 2008-10-29 11:37:21 | ||||||
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If I was able to get some detailed working drawings of an existing wind mast, I would happy to obtain a quote and share it with everyone on this forum. If there was enough interest and a few orders were generated, it would bring the price down -- alistair |
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| Re: Proven 6kw wind turbine mast | craig Sams - 2009-04-17 15:37:34 | ||||||
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Alistair,
Did you ever source the 6kW Column for the Proven? |
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