skystream

[Brian Rose]

i've heard a lot lately about skystream and it's not all good. i have an installation business and want to use the skystream, but i need to know the real story on how it's working, current problems, etc. i would also like to find out what residential sized grid-tie wind turbine is the best performer for the cost.

[Rob Beckers]

Hi Brian,

For actual, real-world Skystream experience from an installer's perspective, send a PM to Wilco Vercoelen (he's a member of Green Power Talk). He has installed several, including one in front of his house, so he actually has day-to-day experience with it.

Household size depends on what annual average wind speed you have. The average Canadian household uses 900 kWh/month. Now, I am biased: My business imports 6kW Eoltec Scirocco wind turbines (http://www.solacity.com/) from France and distributes these in Canada. So with that in mind: For a location with a reasonable wind speed, say around 5.5 m/s at hub height, you can expect to see just about 900 kWh/month from a Scirocco wind turbine. Nearest competitor is a Bergey Excel, and it will produce only 10% more for much more money. The Scirocco is built to last a long time, doesn't furl, and stays in one piece for winds up to 215 km/h. It's much larger than a Skystream, but then again a Skystream won't come anywhere near producing 900 kWh/month. I believe the Scirocco to be a great value in wind turbines. Anyway, enough blowing my own horn. ;)

-RoB-

[Dan Lenox]

Brian,

Last weekend we had our annual Cheat River Festival and I was talking to Dan Bowes from West Virginia Solar.

Being a dealer and installer for Skystream, he apparently has had a *lot* of experience with them, sounds like a huge maintenance issue as almost all of them that he has put up have failed/been repaired/failed again/etc.

One other person that I talked with (and actually owns a Skystream) mentioned that it sounds like the average output across a 30 day period is not much over 100 watt/hr. My homemade 17'er (in severe stall) averaged about 500 during the same period.

It seems that only one of the many Skystreams that WVSolar has put up is actually producing some reasonable output.

If you want to talk with him contact me off line and I can give you his number - or go to his website http://www.westvirginiasolar.com

Dan Lenox

[Ethan Brush]

I figured there had to be a catch. The cost of the skystream is remarkably low, even considering its inflated output specs. If it was reliable and consistant, I thing it would be a remarkable machine, able to bring wind to many folks who not otherwise take the financial leap....