Identify this Windmill?

[SparWeb]

On a recent business trip, driving from London to Hamilton, Ontario, I spied this near the highway (Hwy 403):

I wish could have spent the time to ask a few questions of the apparent owners, but I was already late for a flight.  Can anyone identify it (or maybe, dear reader, this is yours, and I'd love to hear from you).

The reason I ask is that this windmill is over 20feet in diameter - it's much bigger than the typical homebrew, yet much smaller than the 100 foot industrial-size windmills.  Has anyone experience with these middle-child systems?

[richhagen]

That sure does look like a Jacobs.  Those turbines have a very good reputation for reliability.  They feature a generator mounted on the tower like that one, fed by a geared transmission.  That one is probably about a 20 kilowatt model with about a 31 foot diameter swept area, and I believe they are still sold.  Rich

[Janne]

Hi!

looks to me like a Jacobs 31-20 grid tie system.. their website can be found at http://www.windturbine.net/

[jmk]

 Looks like a Jacobs to me too. She sure is a beauty! I wonder how much the footing cost for that tower?

[bigal1949]

Its a new model Jake for sure. The only problem with them was for a while the grid tie inverters were junk but the problem was corrected. The other down side is they require regular lubing etc and its a long way up there to do it and many of them went south due to the owners not providing this. Lots of moving parts and no maintenance doesn't work well. Otherwise if that is done there good turbines.

[Warrior]

I've heard they've been left unattended in arctic regions for years to find out they still ran perfectly!!!