Hugh Piggott's blog

Some video of my presentation

Posted on 07/12/2014 by hugh

Here is footage from the presentation I made for the Windempowerment Conference in Athens last month. Actually this is a backup that was not used at the conference as I was able to make the same presentation live (and said a whole lot of different things, I think). Anyway this backup version is too long to upload as a single video so I have split it into 3 parts: Scoraig Stories, Alternator Design, and a shorter subsection: Ferrite Magnet Windmill. This last is an intro to my new 2F design document

sorry about the poor sound quality

More about windmills in the old days on Scoraig here

Posted in construction, ferrite magnets, my own projects, People, products/technical, Scoraig, Video links, wind systems tutorial | 2 Comments

Build your own windmill workshop course on Scoraig April 18th 2015

Posted on 18/11/2014 by hugh

I am planning to hold a course here on Scoraig in April. We’ll build and test a wind turbine as usual. Accommodation is provided from Saturday 18th to Saturday 25th April 2015. These will be the arrival and departure days. The course will run for six days from 19th to 24th. Your partner may be able to find accommodation here too without attending the workshop. Please ask for details.

See photos of 2012 course (plus video) , 2013 course and 2014 course. Cost will be £700 including accommodation. I may be able to offer a limited number of student discounts if there are enough people paying full price.

Contact me for more details and to book a place. I do not plan to travel around teaching courses this year as I have mostly done over the last 12 years or so. This may be your only opportunity to be taught by me personally, although there are several other groups worldwide offering courses based on my Recipe Book or derivatives of it.

Happy crew

Posted in construction, courses, my own projects, Scoraig | 3 Comments

Live data from a powerspout turbine in Abergavenny, United Kingdom

Posted on 12/11/2014 by hugh

Here is a site where you can see a grid connected powerspout in operation exporting electricity. Unlike solar PV systems, this renewable source keeps going night and day. Although it only generates 600-700 watts or so, it keeps up well with the demands of the house as you can see.

More about Powerspout. More about the actual turbine at Glenburnie.

click on this image to go to the actual site with live data

Posted in hydro, People, power curve data, products/technical | 2 Comments

1200 dia. project photos from South Africa

Posted on 06/11/2014 by hugh

Thanks to Felix Thoma for sending me this link to his page with photos of his 1200 diameter project in South Africa. He is using my 2005 plans (“How to Build a Wind Turbine”) with the hollow shaft which requires a bit more machining than the more recent “recipe”, but machining is no problem for Felix!

more photos here….

Posted in construction, People | Leave a comment

Nice video about windempowerment

Posted on 30/10/2014 by hugh

I will be making a presentation on Monday morning “live over internet”.

You can watch the conference live using this link but be aware that you will need to install some software (VLC media player) in advance to do this.

Posted in construction, developing world, People, Video links | Leave a comment

Sample noise assessment for planning consent

Posted on 29/10/2014 by hugh

I am grateful to Graham Caulton for sharing this noise assessment that he used in order to get planning consent for his home-built wind turbine. UK planning officials tend to ask for a noise assessment as a condition for granting permission to erect a small wind turbine, but it’s not possible to measure the noise produced by a machine until you have erected it, so there is a “catch 22” paradox here for home-builders. Graham has successfully argued using data from similar machines in the document below. I am posting it in the hopes that it will be useful to others needing to jump this hurdle.

Wind Turbine Noise Assessment

Posted in products/technical, UK small wind scene | Leave a comment

Another workshop in Athens

Posted on 08/10/2014 by hugh

More details of this workshop here

More workshops around the world here

Posted in construction, courses | Leave a comment

Philippe Caussé apprend à faire une éolienne soi-même

Posted on 29/09/2014 by hugh

see the article in Ladepeche here

Posted in construction, France, People | Leave a comment

UK not working windmills for sale/ new homes

Posted on 20/09/2014 by hugh

People are contacting me with wind turbines that do not work and wondering if other people are interested in using parts of them or whatever. I am very happy to try to find homes for them. Right now I have the following, and if you get in touch I will pass you straight on to the owners so you can hopefully do a deal with them and get something going…

I have a broken 6kW Eoltec wind turbine that is looking for a new home.
The broken bits are the blades and tail. The good bits are; the 12m galvanised tower, the yaw bearing assembly, the alternator, the inverters and various switches.
I thought it would be of some value to an individual or group who were interested in building a wind energy installation. Parts could be obtained from Eoltec, perhaps, although I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that, or the parts could be used as a basis for a home build. New blades and tail being constructed etc.
I would accept any reasonable offers
regards,
Joff Rorke

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