WICO 3rd Newsletter November 2010

WICO project update November 2010

The WICO partnership is currently finalising its findings from the 'analysis' phase of the project.

Over the last few months work has been undertaken in Italy, Spain and England to analyse the current situation with regards the policies, markets and technologies of relevance to small wind systems.

As part of this work each country has engaged with stakeholders through a series of workshops.

The Analysis report will act as the main source document for the production of a set of guide-lines that will help public and private and bodies better understand the benefits and risks of small wind systems.

The guidelines will also assist public authorities develop effective policies that will support and promote the adoption of effective renewable energy technologies.

The guidelines are due to be published in early 2011.

Posted 2010-11-12 12:32:54

UK market assessment of small wind installations

Grant arrangements for installation of microgeneration wind systems in the UK has given way to a system of feed in tariffs. The Tariffs have been set at levels aimed at attracting investors across a range of technologies.

This has put the competing technologies on a fairly level playing field. The result was intended to promote small wind in areas conducive to effective energy capture, namely where a turbine might be expected to achieve a good capacity factor.

The UK FIT system is now in the market and we will monitor the resulting uptake. It does seem at present that for most domestic users Photo Voltaic is the most attractive. The capacity factor is relatively reliable and calculable meaning that there is only a limited risk of achieving a below expected return.

Wind on the other hand is relatively risky. The annual wind speed distribution is variable from year to year and can vary greatly with location, height and local topography.

Prior to installation in most areas of England it would be very important to carry out a full site investigation and to calibrate this against the nearest well defined sites.

There are of course some locations where wind energy is known to be well in excess of the amount needed to generate a worthwhile profit. These are often in very open areas with topographical advantage. The need to carry out an appraisal of the site is very much best practice as turbine selection is also sensitive to wind speed distribution even on obviously good sites.

Perhaps the most encouraging and helpful example of best practice is to be found in the example provided by St Column Minor Primary School where the various forms of Microgeneration have been studied by the children who have also been engaged in scientific survey of conditions. They have used both PV and Small Wind to produce a really useful mix of electrical supply for their own needs and for export to the Grid. Success stories like theirs will benefit the sensible and successful uptake of small turbines i.e. those with rated output of up to 15 kW.

The design of Feed In Tariffs was predicated on achieving an operational return on capital employed, for enough, but not all investors. A simple payback period of say 8 years may attract a stable domestic investor but perhaps not a straight business or local authority which might be seeking payback in 4 to 6 years, say.

Marine South East feel that adjustment of the FIT levels must be reviewed after a running in period. This was originally planned for year three (i.e. after 2 years) and this seems sensible.

A key factor encouraging domestic microgeneration system is the exemption from income tax liability. A key barrier is the cost of site survey and planning. Connection is still more difficult potentially for Small Wind as it is not yet mature.

Posted 2010-11-12 12:55:30

Results from the technical assessment of the Ravenna coast in Italy

WICO is an experimental project which is providing interesting information about the potential applications of mini wind turbines along coastal areas.

As part of the analysis phase of the project, the Province of Ravenna in Italy installed 3 anemometers in different environmental conditions to collect wind data.

Much of the Ravenna Province coastline is characterised by a beautiful pinewood which is located between the beach and residential buildings and hotels which blocks the westerly winds. For this reason, two anemometers were placed on the roofs of seaside resorts in Ravenna, one with the pinewood behind and one without any kind of barrier, both at a height of 6 meters. The third anemometer was placed on the roof of a hotel in Cervia at a height of 30 meters without any barriers.

The goal was to assess the wind speed in different conditions, both with the pinewood barrier and where no natural or artificial barriers exist.

Data collected from November 2009 to April 2010 on the roof of the seaside resorts in front of the pinewood show very low wind speeds; with a mean speed of just 2.2 m/s. This is due to the pinewood, whose average height is higher than the anemometer, stopping the strong prevailing wind from the West.

The data from the seaside resort and the hotel without the obstacles showed promising wind data that seems to be sufficient to install a small wind turbine in order to produce approximately the same energy that could be produced through the installation of PV panels.

Following these first results, some additional technical evaluation and testing of different wind turbine designs was undertaken to assess their performance in the different environmental conditions.

Due to the high degree of turbulence of the wind, vertical axis wind turbines seem to be the most promising design for the area.

So in addition to assessing how suitable the Ravenna Province coastline is for the deployment of small wind systems we have also researched how many of the hotels and seaside resorts are located in "open areas" without obstacles to the wind flows from both the inland and coastal sides.

The result is that 166 seaside resorts out of a total of 397 and 61 hotels out of 778 do not have any kind of barriers around and would be suitable for small wind systems.

Of course this first analysis needs to be deepened and matched with detailed wind data, but as a first assessment, interesting results were obtained as to the number of potential locations offering the best conditions without any wind barriers.

Thanks to WICO, an important "pioneering" analysis work is under development which aims to provide reliable information for the development of small wind systems and a more green economy.

By the end of the project further data and information on the assessment results will be available on the project web pages of the Province of Ravenna
http://www.provincia.ra.it/Argomenti/Ambiente/Energia-ed-elettromagnetismo/WICO-Wind-of-the-Coast

Posted 2010-11-22 14:20:00

WICO Policy workshop report

The WICO policy workshop, held recently, explored a range of items including local authority spatial planning, approvals policy and timescales, consultative and legal structures and formalities of Grid Connection.

The three project partners described and discussed their national experiences in order to understand the issues and barriers and identify the best practices which might assist their own local circumstances.

Likewise, partners compared and contrasted market factors and technical matters in order to identify best practices and transfer the relevant information to their own location.

In some cases, partners identified important enabling "futures" for technology development such as the need for specialist metering and integrated (local) power network "smart" control technology, and the economic provision of site specific annualised wind speed distribution information.

The analysis will be complete by year end, a report due out in early 2011.

Posted 2010-11-12 12:42:44

UK tax exemption information may assist change in Spanish policies

Information that was exchanged as part of the WICO project has already proved useful for the Spanish project partners Diputacion de Huelva who are using it to encourage a change in their national policies.

At the time of writing this newsletter the UK domestic income tax exemption policy related to domestic microgeneration is being viewed as an enabling best practice by Spanish Partners whose existing taxation and small-scale electrical generation policies were seen as a barrier to domestic uptake.

WICO partners are keenly awaiting further reports of Spanish progress on this subject.

Posted 2010-11-12 12:47:54

Feedback from the third Spanish workshop

Spanish WICO partners, Huelva held their third local workshop on 30th of September 2010 in Cartaya, (Huelva); the workshop looked at the available technologies for small wind systems.

The event was attended by 32 delegates(manufacturers, local technicians, University representatives, distributers, etc...) and was inaugurated by the Renewable Energies Department Councilor of Huelva and the Mayor of Cartaya.

Both local representatives strongly supported small wind power systems and emphasized the importance of promoting the implementation of these systems progressively in the territory.

Speakers included the Renewable Energies Department technicians and the director of the small wind section of CIEMAT (Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology), an organization under the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain.

The findings from this workshop included:
* Differentiation between horizontal axis technology, which is more efficient and better designed for open field locations and vertical axis technology which is more efficient and designed for inhabited environments (less noise and environmental impact)
* It was specified that a key point in wind turbine selection is the machine starting point. Some require a self-starter.
* Various machines parameters were comparatively evaluated, such as efficiency and turbulence among others.
* There was an issue concerning the certification of certification of a mini wind generator can be so high (200,000 to 250,000 €), that it requires a high volume of sales to recover this high cost.
* The new standard takes into account not only the turbine but the whole system (turbine, tower, resonances of the machine ...)
* There is still not a completely Spanish standard but it is being worked on, based on the British standard.

* The workshop also recommended to design a label of similar quality throughout the world focused on the customers so that they can compare and verify and meet certain standards (Class I, II, III, ...) and tests in the time trial.

The workshop was timed to coincide with the 75th edition of the Town Exhibition, and The WICO project participated in this exhibition. The stand display was able to show the objectives, actions and expected results and dissemination of information on small wind power within the region.

More than 1,000 people visited the stand where the WICO project, along with other renewable energies and energy efficiency projects were presented.

Posted 2010-11-22 14:34:55

British Vertical Wind Energy company accessing finance to commercialise products

Vertical Wind Energy, a designer, manufacturer and installer of vertical axis, small wind systems has secured £880K of funding from new lead investor the South East Seed Fund, alongside Angel Investors from the South East Capital Alliance (SECA), managed by Finance South East (FSE). Existing investors Clarendon Fund Managers and Northstar Equity Investors completed the funding round.

With two products independently signed off as ready to sell, this investment is designed to allow the Company to actively promote, sell and install turbines across the UK and Ireland. The products are currently in the Government’s micro-certification scheme and are being verified and analysed by the appointed agency TUV (NEL).

Vertical wind Energy, based in Horsham, in the United Kingdom, began the development of its vertical axis systems in 2007. The products have undergone significant testing and multiple design iterations since then. All the while the key focus has been to deliver to the market a product that is cost effective, safe and meets all the design requirements for small wind systems. With the UK Government introducing the "Feed-in-Tariffs" in April of this year the rate of return for customers installing wind turbines has significantly increased.

For further details about Vertical Wind Energy please visit http://www.vweltd.com

Posted 2010-11-22 14:00:20

Wind of Coast (WICO) e brochure available for download

WICO has produced an e-brochure detailing the project background as well as listing the project aims and giving information on the project partners.

The brochure is available to download from

http://www.marinesoutheast.co.uk/wico/downloads