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.

Video of Scoraig Workshop 2012

Posted on 30/12/2012 by hugh

Jonathan Schreiber sent me this video he made about when he came to my workshop last year.  Somehow he also manages to be in the video too 🙂 Jonathan also has a blog here. I will be teaching at more … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, courses, ferrite magnets, People, Video links | 6 Comments

3-phase stator visualisation

Posted on 24/12/2012 by hugh

Thanks to Jesse Salisbury for this nice graphic visualisation of the relative movement of magnets and coils in an axial flux 3-phase design using 12 magnets on each rotor and 9 coils between them.  This is the basic layout for … Continue reading →

Posted in construction | 61 Comments

Power curve measurements on Scoraig

Posted on 23/12/2012 by hugh

Together with Jon Sumanik-Leary (E-Futures PhD Student at University of Sheffield) we’ve been measuring the power/windspeed performance of some of the turbines on Scoraig.  The results aren’t always what I expect but they are interesting.  There’s an article about it … Continue reading →

Posted in People, products/technical, Scoraig | 2 Comments

More new ideas from Chris Olsen

Posted on 22/12/2012 by hugh

Chris Olsen has taken a new turn in his wind turbine experiments and built a direct drive neo magnet machine for use with the Midnite Classic controller. Older stuff by Chris includes a gallery showing how to cut out a … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, People, products/technical | 9 Comments

The refurbishment of Alwa secondary School in Kaberamaido district in Northern Uganda

Posted on 06/12/2012 by hugh

The GIZ , Ugandan Government demonstrated their commitment towards wind power, but fully funding the refurbishment of  Alwa secondary School in Kaberamaido district in Northern Uganda. they where very impressed, few officials offered hands on , for example that is … Continue reading →

Posted in developing world | 1 Comment

How to build a Micro Wind Turbine

Posted on 14/11/2012 by hugh

Clément Joulain has written a manual for building a one metre diameter turbine for 12-V charging using some of my basic ideas but adding some new ones. Available from Amazon in Kindle format “How to build a micro wind turbine” … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, construction, developing world, France, People | 9 Comments

Free Document downloads from Kragten Design

Posted on 12/11/2012 by hugh

Adriann Kragten has made available a number of his reports on small wind turbines for free download Here at www.bidnetwork.org/en/member/adriaankragten Adriaan writes very thorough reports with plenty of equations and clear drawings.  The reports cover both, electricity producing wind generators … Continue reading →

Posted in Adriaan Kragten, Books, construction, developing world, People, wind systems tutorial | 1 Comment

Good news for small hydro turbine owners who want Feed-in-Tariffs

Posted on 06/11/2012 by hugh

OFFGEM have published an open letter that clarifies the question of eligibility for Feed-in-Tariffs (FiTs).  This is confirmed in the Energy Savings Trust website. This gist of it is that Hydro turbines do not need to be approved under the … Continue reading →

Posted in hydro, People | 1 Comment

SEI Workshop in the USA

Posted on 21/10/2012 by hugh

Homebuilt Wind Generators Workshop Guemes Island, Washington • October 15-20, 2012 Instructor: Hugh Piggott, Scoraig Wind Electric, Scoraig, Scotland Support staff: Ian Woofenden, Andy Gladish, Willie McWatters, Etc. Projects:  12 foot diameter 48 volt from Recipe Book with neo magnets. … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, courses | 1 Comment

3-phase stator wiring question answered

Posted on 13/10/2012 by hugh

Jeff Croy asked me this common question by email today and he sent a nice sketch of the options so I decided to publish it here. “I am in the process of connecting and soldering the coils for the 3000 … Continue reading →

Posted in construction | 3 Comments