Turbine study no breeze | Amarillo Globe-News.
Turbine study no breeze
Two poles rising 60 feet above the dry yellow grassland balance two spinning plastic balls.
Upon a closer look, the balls are actually curved turbine blades that resemble spheres when turning. The silence on this land, located east of Canyon, is broken only by the wind.
The two turbines have been operating for about four months. Engineers at West Texas A&M University are collecting data on the longevity, power curve and noise level of the two units. The goal is to submit the data to the Small Wind Certification Council, a regulatory group that decides if small turbines meet certain performance and safety standards. The council will use what WT has collected to certify the turbines.
“State government agencies out there will not give their citizens (a utilities) rebate unless there is a certification body they laterally trust,” said Robert Thompson, chief executive officer of Home Energy Americas, the manufacturing company the two Energy Ball turbines belong to. “So in that sense, it’s an attempt on part of the government to level the playing field.”
Residential turbines can cut energy bills and help utility companies with surplus power. They usually cost from $3,500 to $7,000 to install.
HEA’s turbines are located at Nance Ranch, farm property WT is using for wind energy projects. The university has 14 turbine holes on the property, eight of which have been contracted. So far, three turbines are up and submitting data to WT.
Ken Starcher, assistant director of WT’s Alternative Energy Institute, said the longevity test for HEA’s turbines will require his facility to continuously run the units for at least six months. He said the average timeline for the longevity test is eight months.
Starcher said the AEI is testing the Energy Ball’s power curve by measuring its performance under different wind conditions.
Like other turbines, the blades on the Energy Ball model are initially turned by the wind. The unusual aerodynamic characteristics of the turbines then cause the turn of the blades to accelerate at five to seven times the speed of the wind.
One of the turbines is 2,500 watts, while its neighboring unit is 500 watts.
WT has yet to perform the noise-level tests, but Starcher said that part of the project will determine if the two Energy Ball units would be acceptable in a residential area.
“It helps with zoning requirements,” he said. “As long as it stays within the (noise) guidelines, then they should be happy.”
David Carr, the AEI’s other assistant director, said the blade design of the two turbines reduces noise.
“They don’t have a tip on it, which is what creates the sound you usually hear,” he said, referring to the blades of most commercial turbines.
While the Energy Ball cannot eliminate utility bills, the turbine will give homeowners more flexibility with energy use, Starcher said.
“They would reduce the energy need you have on a home,” he said. “They’re not going to eliminate the need to pay for electricity, but you can live the life you want.”
The two turbines each have small boxes that collect data, including power output, wind gusts and direction, and humidity levels. The ranch is connected to a wireless network, and the data can be retrieved online.
“That way I can check the data during the middle of the night,” Carr said jokingly.
Carr said it took about a year for WT to start working on the turbines at the ranch.
In addition to Energy Ball models, there is a 60-foot-tall, 10,000-kilowatt turbine at the ranch. The blades and rotor shaft on that turbine, which belongs to Garden Energy, a company based out of Long Beach, Calif., resembles an aircraft propeller.
Carr said his facility has worked on Garden Energy’s unit for a few weeks. He said the goal is to test the turbine’s efficiency and give Garden Energy information it will need if the company wants to make improvements.
“It’s important that the tests are done by independent third parties,” said Philip Watts, president of Garden Energy. “They’re essential to validate the performance of the designs.”
Five more turbines will join the Garden Energy and HEA units at the ranch in the near future, but there are still six holes that WT is looking to fill.
Starcher said the Small Wind Certification Council has a list of 16 groups that could send turbines to WT.
“They haven’t checked in with us, but they’re interested,” he said.
Starcher said the private contracts with Garden Energy and HEA do not allow his facility to disclose the amount of money both companies are paying the WT engineers to work on the turbines. But he said the cost to perform standard series of testing on turbines usually runs from $45,000 to $60,000.
