Skystream 3.7 is complete.
 | Our windmill is complete!... First Energy put in our new meter and yesterday we had a credit for 6kwh that we put out on to the grid and the best part is we only used 6kwh off the grid. A grand total of 0 kilowatt hours of electricity bought yesterday! Not too bad seeing how I work out of my home office and have my computer, music and peripherals going the entire time. Not to mention the typical stuff in the house pulling juice the whole day long. Monday and Tuesday of this week we had no wind at all and the total usage for those two days was 30kwh. So I'm thinking this winter should work out well. I took a few new shots of the placement of the windmill and got this nice photo of the Skystream with the Davis-Besse Nuclear Plant cooling tower visible in the background. I liked the idea of an image showing both a small scale residential effort at a clean energy and a large scale corporate effort. In all truthfulness, people kept telling me good luck putting one of those turbines in because they were sure First Energy would just give me the run around and would try to stop it. So I had this photo already setup in my head. | ||
| It was this shot, with me in the foreground holding a sign that said something like "freeenergy" and then having the free crossed out and having First written over it or something to that effect. Thought I'd shop it around along with a video to all the news papers, networks and web blogs. To my surprise though, they were pretty easy to work with. I still think the process is way to drawn out and the paperwork is ridiculous when you are putting in a piece of equipment that they already have on their approved list. Though, they are a business and I would expect them to protect their investments, just as I'm doing the same thing. The best part is that this photo has a totally different meaning with them working in partnership. Hopefully they will start branching out more and more into alternative energy. I'm sure there would be the usual decenters on wind power, but I would think it would be hard to argue the visual side when we already have a nuclear plant here. Of course I heard a guy that works full time for the nuclear plant say that he didn't want to see windmills put up because he doesn't like how they look. Unlike the beauty of the place he works at... ha. Either way I'm glad to have my Skystream installed and we are one step closer to no longer needing LP gas and that will be a very good day. We purchased our Skystream at North Coast Wind and Power in Port Clinton, Ohio - 419 341-7479.
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Hi,
Like your site. Are you thinking about putting in a geothermal heat pump for heat and AC? Have you considered in floor heat? My brother has a house twice the size the house I had, his electric bill is smallar than what I had. The difference is in his Geothermal pump which provides hot water and in-floor heat. No AC needed since they live so far north.
How soon do you see that you will get a return on your investment?
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No I hadn't looked into radiant floor heat, but I'm thinking it might get rough with the second story and the design of our home has limited inner walls for running vents and pipes up from the basement. We actually had to build out a couple of walls out when we were building it just to run the main cold air return system. We definitely would need the AC. It was in the upper 90 degrees here for a few months straight. We'd be roasting without AC.
We are looking at putting in a self contained geothermal system, either wells or slinkys. They want to spec out both out and see what would work best.
Were most likely going with forced air, probably a 5 ton. We might be able to get away with a little less, they have to run some figures based off our current 2 stage multi-zone HVAC we have now. We're hoping to keep the zoning.
We figure between the geothermal and the turbine it will take 12 years at current prices to recoup or investment. Although our electricity provider is set to raise rates next year with this deregulation rules and LP has gone up 15 cents a gallon or more every year. So most likely it will take us a lot less.
So what kind of HVAC system are you running compared to your brother? We currently are on LP.
Josh
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We are on LP (500 gal tank in the ground) and the price this year is over $3.00/gal - fortunately we have only about 3 fills a year. Heating is LP for the lower half of the house and the upper level is a heat pump. We have a fireplace on the lower level and use it a lot in the winter - with the furnace fan running - it circulates the heat pretty well and keep the use of LP down (the LP company complained that we are not using enough to qualify for "autofill") Too bad..... Rod
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$3.00 gal, man it's a killer.
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This was back in Sweden. We had a forced air system for heat. It was partially recirculating inside air mixed with some outside air. The energy source was electricity.
My brother put in a geothermal pump with a loop drilled 300 feet down into bedrock. This unit produces hot water and heated fluid for the coils in their floor. It is truly nice to have a nice warm floor rather than air ducts blowing warm air.
I forgot to mention, my brother's house is about twice as big, he also rents a mother in law suite to a young couple. Twice the laundry, showers, baking etc.
A friend put in a geothermal with an investment of 15 grand, he will see a return within 7 years, going from an oil furnace and radiators.
Most of the new houses in Sweden has geothermal pumps and in floor coils. when you heat with forced air, you always have to produce much more heat than you really need. With a heating floor, you can produce less heat to reach the same result.
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Joshua,
It may seem trivial but I think it's important to note that energy is measured in kWh, not kW. When you say you bought 0 kilowatts of electricity and your usage was 30kW, what you really mean is kilowatt-hours. Power is in kW, but you pay for energy in kWh.
The reason this distinction is important is because those interested in alternative energy technologies often focus on power ratings (your SkyStream is rated at 1.8kW), but they should really be looking at potential energy production, because that is what they pay for in their electric bill.
Good luck with your turbine and this blog.
David
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No that is a very good point David and I will have to fix that on my post. Thank you.
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I am a realtor, investor (Baltimore & Cincinnati), and window distributor. Liked your blog.
Question 1: What price of oil was the 7 year payback based on? Since oil is volitile, one must consider different price scenarios.
question 2: Where is Ohio are you? I am considering moving to Cincinnati. Keep us appraised of how you do with your windmill.
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Not sure about the 7 year pay back deal, that was a reader named Peter that left that comment about his friend that went from oil heating and radiators to Geothermal and radiant heat, but that seems reasonable. Especially with heating oil prices looking to skyrocket this winter to record highs. Say they spent $2,000.00 a year on heating and leave off the electrical cost savings. If the system cost them $15,000.00, it should only take the them 7.5 years to re-coop there expenditure. So I can see that as being justified.
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I'm in Lindsey, Oh. My Skystream 3.7 arrives Monday for installation Tues. Nov 6 -- liked hearing about your experience. Maybe I can share my experiences I'm on a farm -- told I'm bigger than residential but too small for commercial. I'll share my experiences.
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Hey Karen,
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Interesting - I've been considering a Skystream for about a year - unfortunately - my reserve fund was used to replace our well (drought here in VA) and water filter system. Hopefully I will be able to do this in the next year. Virginia allows credits for power returned (although the county needs convincing). I will probably need a 45 foot monopole - what is the height of yours? Who was your installer/resaler? I couldn't get the video to work. Tnx - Rod
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Nice pictures...thanks for posting them. I've been looking at alt. energy for some time now. Skystream looks as the way to go. Now, how can I convince my HOA on allowing such a perfect machine to reside in my backyard?
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Wow, that's a tough one. We're out in the country so it made it a lot easier to get ok'd with the neighbors.
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I am looking to install a wind generator, but I am concerned with the electric braking system?? how is the braking done?? Pads,, Maintaince? lookng for more information.. Thanks Jeff
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I don't know a whole lot on how it works, but this is what they write about it in the manual.
3-2 Electronic Stall Regulation
The Skystream 3.7 has the ability to adjust the rotational speed of its
blades or even stop the blades if required by ambient conditions. This
referred to as Stall Control and it is accomplished by adjusting the current
draw from the alternator. The higher the current draw the greater the
electromagnetic torque applied to the rotor and if enough torque is applied
the blades will slow or even stop. In simple terms the inverter is demanding
more power than the available wind can provide thus causing the blade
rotational speed to decrease.
As a safety feature the alternator is capable of producing approximately
five times the torque required to control the turbine. This extra available
power means that even if segments of the alternator windings are damaged
there is still sufficient torque to stop the turbine.
While Skystream is connected to the utility grid it constantly monitors that
all conditions, for example grid voltage and frequency, are within limits.
If the inverter determines that all operating conditions are within limits,
it opens three Normally Closed (NC) relays, RL1, 2 and 3, removing the
short from the alternator windings and allowing the blades to spin freely.
Only then will it operate the DPDT Grid Relay RL_G to allow the inverter
to export power to the grid. Refer to the Skystream Block Diagram in
Appendix A. Should the inverter sense an abnormal condition, for example
high current in the alternator windings by means of the current sensors on
the relay board it will close relays RL1, 2, and 3 thereby stopping the turbine.
In turn, the DPDT Relay RL_G will be operated to the position where
the inverter power exporting circuitry is disconnected from the grid.
3-3 Redundant Relay Switch Control
As a redundant measure of safety to guarantee stopping the turbine in
case of a winding fault or a lost connection to the alternator; there are
seven connections to the alternator windings, but only three are necessary
to control or stop the turbine. And as a final measure of safety, if the
inverter is unable to control the rotational speed and Skystream exceeds
approximately 400 rpm, the rectified voltage will exceed the Zener (Z)
voltage on the relay board, causing the latching relay (RL4) to open. This
will cause the relays RL1, 2, and 3 to close and apply all the available
electromechanical torque to the rotor, stopping Skystream completely. The
inverter power path will also be disconnected from the grid my means of
relay RL_G. This is the final level of control and is only applied when all
other methods of control have failed. As such, once set, (latched) RL4 may
only be reset by gaining internal access to Skystream – it cannot be reset
via the Remote Display.
josh
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LOVED THOSE PICS. i HAVE BEEN STUDYING SOLAR AND WIND FOR ABOUT 25 YEARS AND I THINK I HAVE WAITED LONG ENOUGH. HOWEVER, WE ARE SELLING OUR HOME THIS YEAR SO MAY BE NEXT YEAR PLEASE KEEP ME INFORMED. I PRESENTLY LIVE IN TENN. BUT MAY MOVE TO MISSOURI. I ALSO HAVE BEEN STUDYING GEO THERMAL HEAT AND WILL ADD RADIANT HEAT TO MY LONG LIST OF STUDIES.
THANKS GOOD JOB. KEN
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Thanks Ken,
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Good Stuff........Does anyone out there know of a windturbine that resembles a traditional windmill???
Thx Rollie
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Are you talking like a farm style windmill, or do you mean the the full building style windmills like in Amsterdam?
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Yes, the farm style. About 6 months ago I found a company in Calf. that did but I failed to write down there web-site and I hav'nt been able to track them down again.
Thx Rollie
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I haven't seen one, but I'll keep an eye out and let you know is I find anything.
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Aerojoule --- This is in a farm show magazine. Low speed type turbine looks like an old style widmill but is updated with microprocessor controls. Available in sizes 1.5 -65k W www.aerojoule.com
I must be missing something here on your site. We are getting ready to purchase a small wind turbine for our farm. Skystream was at the top of our list. Are you still having problems? I don't see where you discuss it here on your site. Were there any hidden costs?
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Hello Connie,
What information were you looking for?
What farm show magazine were you refering to please?
Best Regards,
Christian Martel, P. Eng.
General Manager
AeroJoule
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Please add my name to list of subsciper
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Hi... I was wondering if you might be going to do some extra additions to your Janes project green. Such as maybe an illustration of a stack of money that you are saving. Or is this not an art site anymore. Hmmm... While you are pondering that... could you maybe tell me where Josh is? I can't seem to find him.
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Hi there, I'm very interested in purchasing a Skystream wind generator. How is yours performing, & did the installation go ok? Also, what city office did you contact first? In other words how many hoops did you have to go threw to get the machine up in the air & connected to the grid. Because I do not know who to talk to, to get this project started? I need any information at all.Thank You very much. Robert
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We've been very happy with our Skystream 3.7 wind turbine. With the turbine and other energy reducing measures, (fluorescent bulbs, front loading washer and dryer) we cut our kWh usage by over half of what we used last year for November, (from 1,298kWh to 630kWh). The first month it produced 180 kWh and this month is looking to be in the 215-230 kWh range.
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It's yery good,iam planning to invest.
thanking you
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stumbled on to your sight nice!! been thinking along the same line. do you have the wireless controller that down loads to your pc? so you can see what the skystream is doing or is your electric meter telling you all you need to know.
I am very close to buying one to replace a Enertech 1800 turbine. The unit was made in Burlington Vermont about 30 + years ago, will be mounting the sky stream in it,s place on a Rohn 80 foot guyed tower should work well.
again good for you and thanks SWE.
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I have the remote, but I've had very little luck with it. I found the only way to get a good connection is to take it outside and stand near the tower where the meter is located. So I just usually use the meter when I check it. Also I use apple computers and the software is only for PCs, which I could run Windows on my MAC to use it, but it just doesn't seem worth the trouble. Really all I need to know is the electrical production on a daily basis. Although it is nice to have a remote so you can check all the details of what your skystream is doing in real time.
What's your winds speed like out your way? According to government wind maps we average 10-15 mile per hour winds around us and we have been generating between 175-300kWh a month, about a 1/4 - 1/3 of our power needs.
Hoping to break the 300 mark this month.
Josh
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first, thanks for the quick response..I checked the wind with a wired annometer about 3 year ago. In six months had a average wind speed of 12.9 at 34 feet.The location is Northern Tier of Pa. Bradford county Ridgebury township on Green Mountain 1840 ft wind blows alot from this hill top we can see Elmira, New York
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Hey Shawn,
Wow, that must be quite a view, best we got from our place is a view of the nuclear plant cooling tower... ha
Just curious if I could get some info from you on the annometer you used. I have people ask me about them all the time and was just curious where you purchased yours, how much it cost and if you were pleased with it?
I'd like to post the info on the site for people who would like a precise wind reading in their area.
Thanks
Josh
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http://www.message_cazelc.com/
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