Creative Energies Blog

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.

by Jake MacArthur

As Creative Energies trots around the globe, this next entry comes to you from Switzerland. I have been living in the mountain village of Lenk, nestled between the more renown valleys of Adelboden and Gstaad, in the Bernese Oberland. Switzerland has long been praised for their environmental record and for their progressive federal projects. Upon arrival, I was interested to see how the renewable energy boom has hit this area. In my travels thus far, I have found that most of the development centers around solar, both thermal and electric. A number of chalets have photovoltaic arrays and/or thermal arrays. Given the strict building codes, I was not surprised that most of the arrays are roof integrated. I think that the widespread use of ceramic roofing tiles also lends itself to full module integration. These arrays have an incredible aesthetic quality, but they are clearly labor intensive to install.

Beyond the standard small chalet solar arrays, I have also seen a number of small scale off-grid systems in the mountains. Some of these arrays are used for the simple automation of gates and the like. I have also seen a number of small hybrid systems at high mountain farmhouses and mountain huts. Often, these systems combine a small photovoltaic array and a wind turbine. The Air-X seems to be the most popular choice for wind. These small off-grid systems power lights, communications, and other small loads.

Pictures to come…