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Bergey Windpower Case Study Kahua, Hawaii, USA |
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Off-Grid Ranch Power System |
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Kahua Ranch, located on the north shore of Hawaii, is an off-grid renewable
energy powered ranch and homestead operated as a research facility by the
Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR). The
renewable energy system includes three Bergey 7.5 kW turbines that produce 240
VDC. The turbines are installed on 80 ft. tilt-up towers. The site
originally had two Carter 25 kW wind turbines and their towers were modified to
support the Bergey turbines. The Bergey turbines were installed in April,
1996.
Kahua Ranch is noteworthy because it has a very strong and consistent wind resource. The annual average wind speed is about 23 mph (10.3 m/s). The site also gets torrential rains. PICHTR has clocked one-minute average power outputs over 10 kW. We believe that the high wind speeds and high turbulence at the site are delaying the AutoFurl function, leading to higher peak power outputs. This has caused a number of alternator failures from overheating. PICHTR and BWC are working to reduce the peak power output to bring the systems to the high reliability level of other Excel installations. In 1998 PICHTR installed eight BWC Excel 7.5 kW units on a project in Fiji. Click here to view the Nabouwalu project case study. |
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