Creative Energies Blog

Solar direct water pumping is another great use of photovoltaics.  It is a very simple, reliable way to pump water in remote locations.  In this case, the water will be used wildlife and livestock.

The blog has been a little slow lately as the installation season has been full speed ahead. Some of our recent trips include Sheridan, WY, the Snowy Range here in WY, Pinedale, WY, and the Cheyenne area. We have also been busy with some local projects around Lander and Dubois. Here are a couple images: mid-June in Wyoming and a grid-tied wind and PV installation.

by Phil Schneider

Phil Schneider, Tracy Tollett, and Andy Tyson attended a training last week with Proven Energy (Proven is said with a long “O”, after the company’s founder Gordon Proven). Designed and manufactured in Scotland, Proven wind turbines are gaining popularity in the US. The training (first of it’s kind in the US) was organized by Michael Miller of Teton Power (many thanks!), who is actively developing Proven’s presence in the United States.

Preparing to lower the turbine.

Proven wind turbines are known in the industry to be very robust. Richard Caldow, operations manager with Proven, explained the nuances of the turbine design piece by piece. The turbine has evolved over 20 years of experience in some of the harshest wind on the planet - the salt air coast of Scotland, the bitter cold of Antactica, as well as the heat of Africa. Part of the training was a field trip to Big Piney, WY, where Enercrest has a Proven Energy 6 kW wind turbine installed on a 15m tilt-up monopole tower.

Configurations are available for both battery charging and grid-connected systems, and come in four different sizes ranging from 600 W to 15 kW in capacity. We look forward to working with Proven wind turbines as part of our renewable energy offerings.

Tilting towers make service and training easy.

Richard of Proven Energy answering questions about the unique blade design.

While we have several customers that are employing renewable energy systems comprised of two different technologies (PV and wind, PV and geothermal), we now have one customer who has three technologies working hard on a daily basis. This home outside of Cheyenne started with a PV and wind system about a year and a half ago. The system is grid-connected, although includes battery backup to help reduce the impact of their frequent power outages. Late this winter we added more PV and last week a solar thermal system, the latter of which should produce nearly all the owner’s domestic hot water needs. They will now only use propane for cooking. This system was entirely retro-fit, demonstrating the ability of renewable energy to fit into almost any existing home. We applaud this customer’s commitment to renewable energy and energy independence.

We are welcoming the longer days, as it has been a cold and windy winter in Wyoming. We managed to get some quality work done still, at the cost of cold fingers. Soon we will be slathering on the sunscreen and cooking ourselves on rooftops, but for now we are embracing the season of mud.