Wind Turbine Certification Forthcoming

Turbines like the Skystream 3.7 from Southwest Windpower, shown here at a home in Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania, will soon be certifiable under a new small-wind standard.

For the last few years, technical committees have been working to address a glaring problem facing the wind industry: the lack of a standard method for rating the performance of small wind turbines (see EBN May 2009). Two groups—the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the Small Wind Certification Council (SWCC)—are working on separate parts of this goal.

AWEA has headed the effort to write a new ANSI standard that will govern wind turbines with a swept area of 200 square meters (2,200 ft²) or less. The standard will set out methods for testing and rating the performance of these turbines, and should be complete by the end of 2009.

SWCC, a newly formed nonprofit organization, is working on a method for certifying that turbines have been tested to meet the new standard. According to Larry Sherwood, executive director of SWCC, it’s currently difficult to compare the power curves published by small turbine manufacturers. “Even if you are comparing turbines that were tested at the same wind speed, the way different manufacturers test their turbines can be quite different,” he told EBN. Sherwood expects that the SWCC will begin certifying wind turbines toward the end of 2010.

The new standard will require turbines to pass a basic duration test, in which they must operate for 2,500 hours of power production outdoors in open air without major mechanical problems. “The idea behind the duration test is to filter out turbines that just don’t work,” said Sherwood. “From my understanding … a surprising number of turbines can’t pass the duration test.”

The standard will also require a turbine to undergo performance and sound tests. SWCC will certify complying turbines using a consistent label similar to the yellow EnergyGuide labels on appliances. The proposed label will list power in kilowatts, annual energy production in kilowatt-hours, and a sound rating in decibels. The power rating will correspond to the turbine’s output at a wind speed of 11 meters per second—about 25 mph—while the annual energy production will be based on a site with an average wind speed of 5 meters per second—about 11 miles per hour.

– Martin Holladay

For more information:

American Wind Energy Association
www.awea.org

Small Wind Certification Council
www.smallwindcertification.org

November 1, 2009

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