My name is Hugh and I live off-grid and off-road on a peninsula in North West Scotland called Scoraig. The little white shapes you can see on this photo below are wind turbines on Scoraig in 2011.
The Scoraig skyline has many wind turbines
I went to school in Edinburgh, and university at Cambridge before arriving on Scoraig in 1974 with a desire to get back to hands-on basics. Life was basic then, but in 1978 I decided to build a windmill like a couple of my neighbours to provide electric lighting in the crashing winter storms. Nights are long in northern Scotlan
d during winter. Before the trees grew, the force of the wind was pretty scary.
It took me a whole year before I got something that worked reliably, and after that the neighbours all wanted one too. I was hooked on making windmills, and it turned out that I was better at that than I was at growing veg. and keeping cows. There were lots of problems though, due my inexperience and the wild nature of the wind as an energy source.
I used to take car batteries down to the windmill, charge them and wheelbarrow them back to the house much as they do in the developing world. A tiny bit of electricity is quite a lot more precious than all of the rest that comes later.
After ten years of doing this stuff alone, climbing up scaffolding poles and wiring up home-made electronic controllers, I decided to go on a windpower course at CAT and learn to do it properly.
the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales
They told me that I could come for free, but unfortunately I had to teach. That was fun, and it turned out that I was better at talking about windmills than I was at making them. Since then I have taught there a couple of times each year. I even get paid.
Throughout the 1990s I expanded my horizons, working with wind turbines that were built in factories and was surprised to find that they also seemed to be just as unreliable as my Scoraig-built ones.
Working on the prototype of the Proven 2500 turbine in 1995ish
It’s a well kept secret in the small wind industry, but windmills do tend to go wrong. Maybe that’s why I love them so much. Don’t make a wind turbine to save money! It’s much more likely to take over your life.
I identified the heavier machines that work more reliably (Proven, Ampair) than the cheaper ones that fall apart fast (Marlec, Whisper, Fortis, etc)
Also around this time I built and documented a windmill based on the brakedrum of a Ford transit van, took it to Glastonbury festival and talked to people. Permanent magnets were just beginning to become affordable and I was able to move away from using old dynamos out of military jeeps and buses. The DC dynamos were well made, but their field coils used up all of the power in light winds, whereas permanent magnet machines did not need power for their magnetic field.
Here is a part of my brakedrum windmill plans of 1993, explaining how I made the stator. I did not have an Apple Mac in those days.
I got a job in Africa designing a wind turbine for local manufacture in Zimbabwe. 
They wanted me to use the brakedrum idea there too. However when I got there they told me it was much cheaper to cast a drum locally than to use one out of a truck. The windmill actually worked pretty well and the guys there set up a company called AWP with the aim of building them for export to South Africa and the USA. Not the original idea of rural development but it worked for them. Nowadays the Xzeres turbines are the legacy of this design.
Colin fits the pelton to a 7kW motor
I was also doing some hydro power installations using induction motors as generators, mostly on the Isle of Eigg.
I was amazed by how much easier it is to make a reliable hydro turbine than a wind turbine. They say this is because you don’t get ‘gusts of water’. It’s a pity there is so little reliable flow of water on the Scoraig peninsula, so we have to rely on the wind.
The ITDG axial flux alternator
I also got another developing world job working for ITDG (now Practical Action) in Sri Lanka and Peru, helping them to make permanent magnet alternators for small wind projects. I went for the simplest design this time – the axial flux alternator – and I still like them best to this day. You can download this design here http://www.scoraigwind.com/pmgbooklet/itpmg.pdf although I have improved it a lot since then.
Truck testing on Guemes Island WA
It was about ten years ago in 2001 that I started to teach courses in which we actually built a wind turbine and erected it.
I would say that these have been the most fun things I have done in my life. You can see some photo diaries and videos listed on this page. In this one we tested the turbine on top of a truck.
Over the last ten years I have used powerful neodymium magnets in axial flux alternators. My main focus is to make the designs easy to build, reliable, and efficient in low windspeeds.
The Wind Turbine Recipe Book
Throughout the years I have always written booklets and plans to help other people build wind turbines. The latest version is my ”Recipe Book” describing how to build a range of different sizes and voltages of wind turbines. This is the manual I use in my courses and it is also used by others who teach courses and has been translated into many languages. It runs to 64 pages, crammed with words and diagrams and tables of figures.
I update this book regularly but there is not much that I can add, so it’s probably time I started working on something completely new.
Another book that I wrote that is still available is “Windpower Workshop”. It’s more of a reference book for building turbines rather than detailed instructions. I wrote it in 1997 but it has just been thoroughly updated this year.
The best way to get these books is to use the menu on the top right hand side of this page and choose your location. Take care to choose the right Recipe Book edition that has you own favourite units. Americans will want to use Inches and AWG wire sizes, so there is a special edition for them.
I have written too much here but not nearly enough to tell you all of the stuff I would like to tell you. Still maybe it gives you an idea of who I am in case you actually wanted to know. Thanks for reading this far. If you have questions about home made windpower then send me an email at hugh@scoraigwind.co.uk
Hugh,
You have a great web site and I’m glad you’re there. I am just starting a claim with Paypal and Plimus to get my 49.00 US back for the purchase of the Magniwork materials which were sold as a “free energy machine”. They actually copied your generator plans to the T and sold them along with a few extra circuits and called the whole thing “self sustaining free energy”. I will try and give you an update as to how my request for a refund is going. If I lived in an area where there was more wind I would surely be building one of your designs. Even if it was from a “wrong source” the generator itself looks like it would work fine. I also wondered if going to stronger magnets would increase the power output, and it sounds like it does.
Have a great life and much success!
Earl White
North Idaho USA
ewew921@gmail.com
Yes there are some truly awful rip-offs out there, such as earth4energy and the like. Fortunately they do give refunds quite easily. But the sheer dishonesty is depressing. It’s like a glossy cardboard box containing nothing. A picture of a glossy cardboard box actually. You never even get the glossy box.
People probably do not easily realize that Energy could easily be the foundation for a rational economy, and a new kind of money… I like to hear comments on this point.
I’ve come here to learn about wind energy because I want to put together a team to help Rural and semi-rural China transform from what ever they’re using now to wind, solar and so on…
I’m planning to move to Yunan (a province on the east end of the Himalayan mountains, about 2000 meter altitude). I don’t know why I got that idea… except that when I started to research the region I found out more and more positive things for it…
I’m going near a city called Dali. The city for some strange reason has become a tourist attraction… (that’s why near, and not in it…) This is the land of Shangrila, I guess… the locale that bears that name is in that region..
I like what Hugh is doing in this site… I hope someone would help him with the site, so it can be a bit more to people like me… who want everything there is to know on alternative energies… blah, blah, blah… maybe too much…
Hi Nick,
Glad you like the site. YOu might also like to visit http://www.windempowerment.org for a wider view of what can be done in the world at large.
I hope you get to shangrila!
have fun
Hugh
Hi Hugh
Avid reader of your site, great work!
p.s
I see you use word press to power your blog…quick tip to improve your seo and searches in google – log into your admin section, click on settings on lhs, and then on permalinks. Currently your blog is on default setting- change this to the third one down – month and name. This imbeds the keys words in your blog title into url – resulting in wind turbine related keys words in ur title – which google loves.
P.s please dont show this email on your site- delete it! As every tom/dick/harry will use this trick to improve their google ranking. Regards Paul
Hi Hugh,
I was referred to your site by Sid …? in Balbriggan, Ireland. Not sure if you actually know him, but he has done some, mostly theory I think, work on windmills.
I contacted him initially, to ask about NdFeB magnets, and whether it is viable to boost their flux with an auxilliary coil .. making a hybrid magnet. He considered it, but doesn’t know for sure how well it would work.
I have just erected a 1.8m windmill on my little ship “Portisham”, a retired “ham” class minesweeper. She is my home … which when cash allows, I may bring for a visit to you. Call in if you can. Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, I will not be able to visit your workshop in Leitrim. I am originally from a barge in Jamestown, nr Ck-on-Shannon.
I bought a 2.5kW brushless alternator, ex military, for £3 on ebay, and bonded PMs in between the prongs of the magnetic commutator … ie that is the right term ?
I have yet to see if it is enough to self start the generation. My longer term idea is to take a generic brushless alternator, remove the steel shaft and replace it with non-ferrous … composite/brass/bronze, and fit a Cylindrical PM inside the stationary energiser coil. This would allow a custom regulator to either boost, or suppress the PM’s flux. Similarly, if I took 230V generator core and rewound that for my 28v system, I could use, what I guess would be a highly efficient core, instead of winding discrete coils as per most PM types.
Another idea I have yet to try is to use flat wire to wind “your” type ?
For Deisel fired generator, I acquired a big 36V pancake motor which I intend to use to charge batteries, while also using it’s cooling water to heat the boat(CHP). This is not suitable IMO, for windmill, as it really needs a fairly constant speed, AND it’s brushes cause drag. Nice big PM’s, but bonded into the shell.
Keep up the good work, esp in/for the 3rd world.
Hi Hugh. I was given a wind turbine by a friend of mine and as I live in a very windy place next to a airfield,Kemble ( EGBP )wI would really appriciate hich in my garden has an old ack ack gun emplacement thought I could mount the turbine on top of it. To this end I need to aquire some blades as these were missing when I was given it . My buddy said you were the guru and would possibly, A. know where there where some secomd hand oneswere. or B. where I could get some new ones the turbine is a Marlec 1800 furlmatic. I wouls realy appriciate any help you could give me . Thanks in advance Alastair Reid
Hi Alastair,
If you are looking for somebody to carve your blades then I recommend http://v3power.co.uk/
Hugh
We would like to try micro hydro power and have looked at powerspout. But I am not a technical genius and find things a little confusing. We have several fast flowing small ditches that come off the Tap O’Noth to our croft. The old dam (now silted up) ran an old threshing machine) we could reopen this or use free running ditches.
I do niot really understsand how to measure the flow – I get filling the bucket but how do you know the height, is it just where I can see the water on our croft or right from the top of the ditch (several hundred feet long several hundred feet drop)?
Really keen to do this but not at all sure I could install it myself. Do you know anyone near us I copould go and see . We live at Rhynie in Aberdeenshire – See our web site.
Many thnaks. PS Just told several solar panel people to get packing.
Thanks Tyrphaena
hi Tyrphaena,
It’s be handy if you knew somebody who could install the pipes and so forth on your land, and an electrician to connect it to the grid. I’d prefer not to be installing and supporting stuff in Aberdeenshire without local support.
If you have a source of water a long way up the hill then the best thing is to check the flow from time to time up there and see how much water you could get at that point. (It would have to be captured and fed into a pipe) Then figure out the length of the pipe and the drop in height from that point to your proposed turbine site. Then I an help you, or you can go to the advanced calculator and see what the options are yourself.
I hope this helps. Small hydro turbines are really great if you do have a site that is suitable.
best wishes,
Hugh
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Dear mr. Piggot,
I just finished building my first Piggot windmill. I build it in Malawi where i am living at the moment. I want to use this one to teach the people here how to build windmills.
Now i finished building the windmill i am focussing on the electrical installation and batteries. I am reading about the tristar and other equipment which would be handy but are not easy to find here in Malawi and probably to expensive for the people here. I am looking for an inexpensive and simple (i’m not an electrician) way to connect my windmill to batteries. Do you have any ideas?
Best regards,
Jeroen
hi Jeroen,
When I started out we used to just manage everything manually and that was OK because we were pleased to get any power. We connected all kinds of rubbish batteries in windy weather as dump loads, and then quickly disconnected them when we had got what we wanted out of them. We looked after our good batteries and saved them for later. I remember a lot of crocodile clips and I got a rash on my hands.
If you want to chat with others in africa and around the world, there is a forum at windempowerment.org that could provide a line of communication for discussion of these issues. Some stuff works differently in places where people can’t afford to buy the best control systems but they still need power.
Hugh
Dear Hugh,
I’m just starting to look seriously at wind power, I’ve even bought “Choosing Windpower” from CAT. You must be aware of the “wind lens”* development from Japan. Do you think a wind turbine can have a three fold increase in power output by such a device? In case you don’t know what I’m talking about put “wind lens” into a search engine.
Best wishes,
Benson (on top of a hill in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire)
31 Alexander Rd., Irthlingborough, Wellingborough, N’hants NN9 5UY T. 01933 655149
hi Benson,
The idea of augmenting wind by funneling it into a smaller hole is an old one and it has been seriously investigated and rejected by several companies in the past. In the end the gains are small in relation to the cost of the required structure. I am afraid this is another example of people failing to learn from the lessons of the past and reinventing stuff that does not work.
see for example this article by Paul Gipe.
Hugh
This idea is not funneling into a hole, a ring is constructed around the blades at their periphery, it causes turbulence behind the turbine producing higher wind flow through it. Yuji Ohya of Kyushu University, Japan did the work. Google “wind lens” and see it on Wikipedia. They claim a three fold through put. All I ask is that you look at it.
Best wishes, Benson.
hi Benson,
I studied the material that is linked to from the wikipedia site and the device is a diffuser, just like the ones in previous attempts. OK they have obtained enhanced output, but these are academic studies and it remains to be seen if they can achieve commercial success with the idea which has failed to do so on several previous occasions. I hope that they are building on these previous attempts and not simply reinventing the wheel so to speak.
Hugh
Hi Hugh,
Thank you for your input and the benefit of your experience. I suppose the only thing to do would be take say a 500 W machine run it, then add an anulus and see if it improved.
Best wishes,
Benson.
hi Benson,
I do not doubt that it will give a higher output. I do doubt that it will be simpler or cheaper or better than building the larger turbine to achieve this same output.
Hugh
Hi Hugh,
thanks for your work.
I’m back from a workshop in France with Tripalium, and as I’ll be travelling to India next month to work on a off-grid solar PV project, I’d like to know more about the potential of small wind turbines in India (specifically Utta Pradesh, north) and raise the question with the organisation I’ll work with. I’ve checked windempowerment.org but I see no member (organisation) from India. Do you know of any projects or people there that I could contact ?
Thanks,
Matthieu
Hi Matthieu
http://minvayu.org/
Hugh
Just wanted to say Great website Hugh ! Happened to come across your site while surfing the net and ended up reading about all of your projects..very intriguing and inspiring !!
Hi
My name is Stephen. I am with a media group that are doing a documentary about self sufficiency and energy consumption. Is there any possibility that we can come and visit Scoraig to get some shots and hopefully some interviews about this subject matter.
Your input would be of great value on this project
Than you for your time
Stephen
fivebye5@gmail.com
Not sure whether this is the correct place to post but here goes. I have a 1KW commercial wind turbine with a really poor furling system. I wanted to use your design for a furling system and adapt the turbine to fit. Would I need to make any changes to the measurements of your furling system or could I just build it as per your book.
Regards,
Pete
hi Pete, This seems to be a chat of some sort
Yes you can use the same dimensions taking care over the positioning of the blades well forward of the tower. It may not work so well if the rpm is high in strong winds as tends to happen with a lot of conventional alternator designs (using laminated cores in the stator).
Hugh
Hello Hugh,
I’m an engineer who has left the mainstream to start a family here in rural Galloway. Initially I was looking at making a wind turbine but for MCS so I got into hydro. After about 6months of trying to get accredited they scrapped MCS for hydro. I have now built 10 hydro schemes ranging from 8 kW to 40kW. These mainly include my own design and build of turbine but I have also installed an Ecowave Crossflow and a Hydrover Turgo.
My father has a farm close to me which has two sizeable watercourses but unfortunately they are flat so no potential for hydro. I am now looking at building a wind turbine again and believe that there isn’t a MCS requirement above 50kW so that is the size I want to build.
At present I am looking at 24m hydraulic lift sectional tower, 3 blades, upwind, pitch control, belt drive and 4 pole induction generator with direct sync to the grid. I wonder if you have any words of encouragment or advice for my plans? Everybody around me thinks I am crazy!
I have your wind turbine recipe book and think what you are doing is great. Unfortunately the FIT scheme has not encouraged others to make renewable turbines. To my knowledge, you are the only other person in Scotland who is actually making turbines.
Euan
Hi Euan,
It’s great to know that you are doing this. I built a few hydros in the 1990s and they always seemed more worthwhile than wind turbines. I used induction motors and Nigel Smith’s control stuff which I imagine you are using sometimes too. Hydro seems to be a lot more reliable than wind energy. But the sites are limited, and somehow people always persuade me to do wind stuff.
50 kW wind does seem a bit ambitious for sure on your own, and I wonder if it could be more effective to buy a secondhand Vestas or Bonus or the like?
Maybe MCS would not work on secondhand stuff, in the same wonderful logic that excludes DIY from the small wind arena. Seems to me that the whole point of small renewables is to encourage self reliance, and human scale participation. Using secondhand stuff is also more sustainable that building new.
If you want a partner in the 50kW wind turbine then you might try http://www.pelicanwindpower.com which is a 45 kW design that I imagine could be adapted. He is looking for people to take up his design.
Have fun!
Hugh
My spouse and I absolutely love your blog and find a lot of your
post’s to be just what I’m looking for. Do you offer guest
writers to write content for you? I wouldn’t mind writing a post or elaborating on a number of the subjects you write in relation to here. Again, awesome weblog!
Pennine Community Power has a 10kWh Bergey community wind turbine that have been operating for six months. However, it does make several types of noises that disturbs the neighbours of the turbine to the extend that we are loosing community support. The worst type of noise is when the turbine furls, which is does at 11.5kWh production. As we are placed on the top of the Pennines this actually happens quite frequently during the winter months – like last week.
There is also another resonance noise in lower wind speeds, which is like a honking, metallic noise.
We have sent HD video and audio recordings to Bergey in the USA via SIAC – the UK installers for their engineers to look at the problem. We were wondering if you have come accross these noise problems with Bergey turbines before and if you know of any solutions. If you need any specific details from us please let me know and it may be best if you reply directly to my email address rather than us communicating via your blog.
Thanks
Hi there Hugh,
Could you please let me know how I can get in touch with you in relation to your wind turbine course in Ireland this year (June I believe). I couldn’t find an address for you.
Thanks a million,
Brian
This workshop is being organised by Eirbyte and you can contact them through their website at http://buildyourownwindturbine.com/index.php/contact-us
I hope you can make it, it should be fun!
Hugh