- Southwest Windpower
Southwest Windpower is a
wind turbine manufacturer established in 1987 based inFlagstaff, Arizona . Maker of small-scale, consumer-oriented wind generators. With 100 employees and growing, Southwest Windpower’s tagline is “Renewable Energy Made Simple.”Milestones
In 2000, SWWP became the first wind turbine manufacturer to receive UL (
Underwriters Laboratories ) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission ) certification, for its AIR series wind turbines. Southwest Windpower’s latest turbine, theSkystream 3.7, has a rotor diameter of about 12 feet ( 3.7 meters ) and can generate up to half an average home's energy in optimal winds. It is the first residential-scale wind generator designed specifically for the grid-connected home or small business. The company callsSkystream the first “plug and play ” backyard wind generator. This is because the generator's inverter is build-in, requiring no external box or wiring.Claimed power and real power producing curves for Air-X has been measured and the document describing the experiment can be found at http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy03osti/34756.pdf. The 400W peak power is not to be confused with average power production, which was about 150W at 12m/s wind speed. The next generation Air-Breeze, while having a slightly lower peak power, also starts producing power in lighter winds, and should provide a higher average energy production under similar conditions.
SkyStream is the first device to be spun out of the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Energy Program.That program includes the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory Wind Technology Center in Boulder CO.Andrew Kruse estimates that one SkyStream will produce about 100 000 kWh of power over its 20-year design life. At a typical total installed cost of $9000, that gives an average energy cost of 9 cents per kilowatthour. [Willie D. Jones"I've got the power: Backyard wind turbines turn energy consumers into suppliers"in "IEEE Spectrum" October 2006 p. 18]External links
* [http://www.windenergy.com/index_wind.htm Official website]
* [http://www.thesolarguide.com/wind-power/manufacturers.aspx Wind Energy Manufacturers]A video of the new Air Breeze in operation (so quiet its difficult to hear over the noise the wind makes in the microphone):
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBQJoRXjuyM YouTube Breeze video]
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