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.

2014 English Units Recipe Book available as ebook

Posted on 03/07/2014 by hugh

My Wind Turbine Recipe Book comes in two editions: Metric and “English Units” (also known as “Inches” or “North American” edition).  I had to publish the English units edition because the 46x30x10mm magnets, and the metric wire sizes that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, construction, my own projects | Leave a comment

Performance data for two Recipe turbines

Posted on 22/06/2014 by hugh

New performance data is available from field tests in Holland showing the 1.8 metre diameter turbine producing close to the predicted energy at a 4.8 m/s average windspeed. This turbine is grid-tied using a Mastervolt inverter protected by LDR circuits.   … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, developing world, performance, power curve data | Leave a comment

Ideas for a 34 pole alternator design by Adriaan

Posted on 14/06/2014 by hugh

“Dear Hugh and others During the last weeks I have designed a new water pumping windmill, the VIRYA-3S. This windmill makes use of a direct drive 34-pole PM-generator and is primary meant to be coupled to the 3-phase asynchronous motor … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, People | 3 Comments

ebook plans for 2F turbine now finally published

Posted on 07/06/2014 by hugh

Over the last couple of years I have been building some ferrite magnet alternators.  This is partly due to the sharp increase in neo magnet pricing a few years back and also the problems I have seen with neo magnets … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, ferrite magnets, my own projects | 39 Comments

Measuring the Power Curve of a Small-scale Wind Turbine

Posted on 05/06/2014 by hugh

Here is a paper describing how they measured the power curve of one of my early-design turbines in Nicaragua.  They clarify the impact of various parameters such as generator heating, battery voltage, controller settings, furling system and anemometer position. The … Continue reading →

Posted in performance | Leave a comment

Wind turbine builders from Holland

Posted on 02/06/2014 by hugh

Dear Hugh, About a year ago we have had contact about the inverter choice for the 4200 project. The Ginlong inverter is doing a great job so far. The turbine has produced over 1000kwh after about 4 months on a … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, People, products/technical | Leave a comment

“Build a small wind turbine” workshop in Greece

Posted on 01/06/2014 by hugh

23-31st August: “Build a small wind turbine” construction workshop in Nea Makri, Greece Kostas knows what he is talking about so this should be good.  more details…WindTurbineCourseAug2014

Posted in construction, courses, Notices | Leave a comment

Workshop course in Buenos Aires in June

Posted on 22/05/2014 by hugh

Estimados, Les acercamos toda la información de un nuevo Curso teórico-práctico de Aerogeneradores que estaremos dictando en Buenos Aires en junio. Horario y Lugar: 4 al 7 de junio 2014. Buenos Aires El curso comenzará el 4 de junio y … Continue reading →

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Ecotricity saves Evance

Posted on 21/05/2014 by hugh

The green energy company Ecotricity has today bought small wind firm Evance out of administration.    Evance was the UK small wind company with the highest sales in recent years but there has been a big contraction in the market.  Also … Continue reading →

Posted in UK small wind scene | Leave a comment

Upcoming homebrew wind workshops by others

Posted on 09/05/2014 by hugh

I won’t be offering any more workshops this year but if you are interested in next year on Scoraig then get in touch for details later.  Meantime there are some interesting events by friends and colleagues that deserve a mention … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, courses, France, Notices | Leave a comment