Hi Steven,
Thanks for the response! About 6 months ago we installed a 500W wind turbine that I built based on Hugh Piggot's book "How to Build a Wind Turbine" (June 2005 edition). There is now a German and also a (very inspiring - prior to meeting us he had already built his own!) Afghan working on producing more of these for distribution. Carpenters are trained to produce the blades. Neodymium magnets are imported from China. There can be some fun involved finding good local supplies (i'm thinking of using schedule 8, 4" PVC we have here to stiffen up and supply the root shape of my blades).
Taking build time, cost of materials, and cost of controller, batteries, and inverter into consideration I was generally unsatisfied with the resulting cost/watt. I am hoping to improve this through the design of a larger, 1.5-2KW machine. While not all do, some costs scale well. Additionally, a larger machine might be designed that can be more generically suited to other applications, specifically pumping water.
So, I'm starting from scratch to really learn how these machines work. As I mentioned, we have a wind map of Afghanistan now, which will give me much more confidence that any new design can be properly targeted for use here.
The researchers were comparing their new blades to those from a Bergey 1.5KW turbine. Unlike what would be probably be suggested here, these incorporate no twist or taper.
Thanks again, it's nice to be welcomed to the board.
-Carl
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