Author Archives: hugh

About hugh

I live off-grid in NW Scotland and have spent my life playing with wind turbines. I also love small hydros. Hands on renewable energy is my thing and I like to learn and to share my experiences.

2.4m machine on test in Greece

Posted on 18/04/2015 by hugh

Kostas sent me a power curve and a video of a 2.4m machine constructed from my 2005 publication “How to Build a Wind turbine”from the NTUA test site in Rafina . It’s similar to the same size model in my Recipe … Continue reading →

Posted in performance, power curve data, Video links | 1 Comment

Nepal Turbine Documentary

Posted on 14/03/2015 by hugh

Dear Mr. Piggot, I am the director for a feature documentary about Tashi Bista and his dream to install a wind turbine in Namdok, a remote village nestled in Upper Mustang, Nepal. Tashi used your recipe book throughout the entire … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, developing world, People, Video links | 3 Comments

Courses are busy

Posted on 06/03/2015 by hugh

My course in April is nearly fully booked now.  Just one place left maybe.  But there are a lot of other courses happening in the near future. Tripalium in France are always busy with one course after another. Los Portales … Continue reading →

Posted in courses, France, People, Video links | Leave a comment

maintenance sur une petite éolienne

Posted on 02/03/2015 by hugh

Maintenance sur la petite éolienne Colibri sur l’ecosite d’Eurre. Projet fait en co-opération avec le Greta sur le projet RET.   This Colibri machine design is based on my approach, using an axial flux alternator.  You can see some details … Continue reading →

Posted in France, Video links | Leave a comment

scoraigwind.com is back online

Posted on 01/03/2015 by hugh

My old homepage at scoraigwind.com is back up, after falling over a couple of weeks back. Thanks to the guys at Otherpower for hosting it for me over the last ten years. Thanks also to Irishsolar (eirbyte) for hosting this .co.uk site. … Continue reading →

Posted in People, Scoraig | Leave a comment

Wiring loss in 3 phase wind systems

Posted on 24/02/2015 by hugh

Here is a piece I did about AC and DC in 1999.  It explains why DC wiring is slightly more efficient than 3-phase AC wiring where the AC is feeding a rectifier (rather than grid AC which is at  higher … Continue reading →

Posted in products/technical, wind systems tutorial | 12 Comments

Assessment of locally manufactured small wind turbines as an appropriate technology for the electrification of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua

Posted on 19/02/2015 by hugh

This paper spells out the many hard lessons that were learned by blueEnergy in their effort to bring locally manufactured wind energy to remote villages on the Caribbean coast.  It should be read by anyone setting out to use my … Continue reading →

Posted in developing world, People | Leave a comment

Hornet wind turbine next door

Posted on 13/02/2015 by hugh

After the storm destroyed the Ampair 100 that was on this mast, a neighbour bought a Hornet from http://windgenerator.org.uk/  This is the 8-blade 1250 watt version.  Apparently it has been seen producing 1251 watts into a 24 volt battery “in … Continue reading →

Posted in products/technical, Scoraig, UK small wind scene | 42 Comments

back in action after storm

Posted on 23/01/2015 by hugh

Perceptive readers will have noticed the little red graph on the right plunge to zero after the big wind we had on 9th January.  This was due to my AWP windmill plunging to the ground with a broken alternator shaft.  … Continue reading →

Posted in products/technical, Scoraig | 2 Comments

Missouri Wind and Solar video

Posted on 20/01/2015 by hugh

I mostly like everything that people do with small wind turbines, especially hands-on and do-it-yourself, so I got excited to discover Missouri Wind and Solar, and I watched this video that I found on the home page with interest. Unfortunately … Continue reading →

Posted in People, Video links, wind systems tutorial | 66 Comments