Wind Turbines

Hino1

Hi all,
I am thinking of installing a 5kw wind turbine for my own use (House & small farm). I am considering a turbine called a SWEA which is manufactured in Holland & i have got a quotation from an Irish distributor who would install it for me.
Does any body have any experiance of SWEA units?
Are there any particular problems with them
I am told it is maintanence free - is this the case
Do they give backup in the event of a problem
Are there any other brands that you would recommend or not recomment

Thanks.

bladespin

Most of SWEA's manufacturing is done in China, they do make their inverters in Holland.

There's no such thing as a maintenance free turbine, check into this further, all blades have opertaing limits and need to be checked, same goes for cables etc.
I'd look at Proven for a 5-6Kw unit or Turbotricity for a 3kw for comparrison.

holdfast

proven would be one of the market leaders. I would aggree with bladespin to have a look at them

Hino1

I had already looked at the proven option, but it seems very expensive (33-34K), so i dont know would there be any return on my investment. Turbotricity dont seem to do any 5kw unit. Am i right in assuming that i should be very careful & cautious before i would buy any unit which is substantially made in China. Are there much differences in output from different 5kw units - You can buy them from the low 20's to the mid 30's. That is a very big price differende!!!

Carlow52

Hino1 wrote: »

I had already looked at the proven option, but it seems very expensive (33-34K), so i dont know would there be any return on my investment. Turbotricity dont seem to do any 5kw unit. Am i right in assuming that i should be very careful & cautious before i would buy any unit which is substantially made in China. Are there much differences in output from different 5kw units - You can buy them from the low 20's to the mid 30's. That is a very big price differende!!!

Have u the detailed wind analysis for the actual site for this level of investment: 35k for something, based on sales talk that might not do what u expect is a big risk.

Consider an actual site survey with the measurements taken at the precise height you have in mind. Collect data for a year, by which time the price will be reduced with better quality kit:)

Cheeble

Hino1 wrote: »

..........Am i right in assuming that i should be very careful & cautious before i would buy any unit which is substantially made in China.......

No.

You should be very careful and cautious about the quality of the product whether it's made in China, Ireland, or on the Moon. The ethnicity of the workers who make it, and the geography of its origin has little to do with the product quality.

There are a lot of people who will try to scare you away from products just because they're cheap when in fact this is (by most rational analyses) one of the most desireable of product features in everything from beer to wind turbines.

Cheeble-eers