Where to buy towers

[Tom Levy]

I am having a real hard time finding a tower for a turbine kit that I will be putting together. The kit comes with a slip ring that fits into a sch. 40 pipe. I want something about 60' tall.

Any thoughts from the group? I am in Ottawa (and yes, before anyone says it, I know my wind resource is the pits). The reason why i need one is to supplement our off grid power in the mid-late fall months, and early winter.

[Ric Murphy]

Hi Tom,
I have a 70' - 4" schedule 40 tilt up tower that will likely be for sale in the spring. The top transitions to a 2" schedule 40. It will include the gin pole, all the guy wires and turnbuckles also (maybe even the winch). Not sure how soon you need your tower. Pictures and info can be found in this thread starting at post #48.
Ric
http://www.greenpowertalk.org/showthread.php?t=675&page=2
http://www.greenpowertalk.org/showthread.php?t=1369

[Rob Beckers]

Hi Tom,

What size pipe schedule 40 are you looking for? What size is the wind turbine?
Southwest Wind Power makes tower kits (http://www.windenergy.com/products/towers/whisper_tower.htm)both for 2 1/2" schedule 40 (intended for their Whisper 100/200), and 5" schedule 40 (for a Whisper 500/SkyStream). Everything but the pipe and concrete is in those kits. Then there's ARE tiltup towers (http://www.abundantre.com/towers.htm), and they make kits for 4" schedule 40 tower kits with and without pipe, as well as 5" schedule 40 with or without pipe (we use those for our 6kW Scirocco wind turbines). All of these come in various heights.

If Ric has one for sale that's probably the more economical way to go. Otherwise, contact me offline and I'll be happy to send you a quote.

-RoB-

[Dan Lenox]

Tom,

You did not mention the type of tower you were interested in:

Guyed tower
Lattice (guyless)
Other


Dan Lenox

[Tom Levy]

Good questions.

The turbine fits into a 2" pipe at the top. Ideally I would like a stand-alone pole, but realize the engineering and cost associated with something like that is quite restrictive. I would preffer a lattice tower, as the guyed towers are quite ugly in my mind.

Cheers -
Tom

[Ethan Brush]

If you want a free standing lattice, a Rohn SSV is a good option, but as you are aware, plan to pay a lot more than a pipe tower. I saw a bergey 10kw on a 120' SSV, real nice setup.

[Dan Lenox]

Tom,

I am currently using a lattice tower made by AN Wireless for my 17' turbine, and 70' tall. They are on internet at http://anwireless.com

One of the things that you have to deal with when using a lattice tower is blade clearance. I overcame this by making my own 9' telescoping stub because at 70' for this tower the top is still 24" wide. So when operating, the turbine extends above the top of the tower and has plenty of clearance.

The other issue with freestanding lattice towers is that you have to typically make a davit crane to raise and lower heavy items from the top of the tower to the ground. Here is link that shows good images of top of lattice tower: http://www.briery.com/wind_turbine/build_log8.html#Tower_for_sale , it is not for sale as I really love my free-standing tower.

Gives you a good idea of a working lattice tower.

Dan Lenox

[Jeff Birkle]

If you have a low wind speed site, do some checking on turbine design before you bye.
I make all my own stuff and have tested most commercial turbines and found that they can be somewhat site specific, and most don't work well in low wind speeds.
Installing a wind speed meter (even a Canadian tire weather station) and recording data for awhile would be very useful.

Cheers

Jeff