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LE-300 is the most affordable and lightweight, yet powerful and robust micro wind turbine you can think of. With a rotor diameter of just 1.0 metres and its tiny weight of just 6 kgs, this low-priced and very versatile Home Power generator is fast and easy to set up and deploy. Quality-builtin the U. K. and using maintenance-free and sealed-for-life rare earth generators, the design life of this unit is 20 years. Expected annual power production is 240 KWh to 1050 KWh (for sites averaging  4.1 m/s or 8.0 m/s resepctively).

Why choose the LE-300 Wind Turbine

• Extremely quiet because of our Whispower^TM blades
• Lightweight – just 6kg – and easy to mount
• Starts generating in very low winds, delivers high power in very strong winds
• Robust aluminium chassis finished using Airbus approved paint
• A4 stainless steel fixings used throughout.
• Pairs of top quality, marine grade, sealed for life bearings used
• Excellent reliability with a 5 year warranty
• Superior battery protection system

WIND is created by ineven heating of the surface of the earth. Wind turbines harness the kinetic energy in the wind and convert it into electrical energy. This energy can be used to power your home and work facilities.

ENVIRONMENTAL

Wind is an abundant and naturally occurring resource. Wind energy is one of the cleanest ways to produce electricty. Very little processing needs to be done to convert it into free and clean energy. Operation of a wind turbines produces no pollution with no emissions, exessive noise or waste heat by-product. Particularly with mini wind generators lacking most of the detrimental effects of large-scale wind farms, wind can be harvested with minimal impact on the environment, a very important factor in meeting our increasing energy needs. Mini wind systems can be deployed for distributed generation (right where the power is consumed) and thus save on wasteful transmission (there is up to 50% loss of energy in the grid alone) as well as prevent visual impact and EMF radiation from grid lines.

ECONOMICAL

Wind is an inexhaustible resource. Operation and maintenance expenses can easily be forecast; especially with high-quality turbine systems designed to operate with no scheduled maintenance. Robust design and an expected life of 25 to 30 years provide added economic feasibility.

YOUR BENEFITS

You will enjoy economic as well as environmental benefits from wind energy. Wind farms contribute energy cost savings for owners by offsetting power requirements from the grid. It is the most cost efficient way to produce electricity on your own, and with government incentives and rebates, the payback period on a mini wind system can be as little as nine years in some locations.

At miniwindsystems.com, we are paying attention to detail: as buyers sometimes find it difficult to get the right accessories (large-diameter DC cabling, DPDT switches that can take sufficient current, fuses & more), we have come up with several turn-key sets for our most popular mini wind turbines. Click the links for micro inverters, fuses, high-current DPDT switches or larger-diameter cables and more.

When it comes to low-energy lamps, it is often confusing to know what’s right and what’s wrong: too much irritating advertising, sometimes unwarranted claims of “eco-friendliness”, price wars that can distort the picture. In order for you to make informed decisions, we would like to help you educate yourself about energy-saving lamps.

First of all, it is important to point out that CFLs are NOT the way to go: every tube including the ones contained in CFLs leave poisenuos heavy metals when discarded (like mercury contaminating drinking water supplies). CFLs also have a high-current “ignition” unit that emits Electromagnetic Fields or EMFs that are potentially harmful to your health. Also, CFLs are roughly 30% less energy-efficient than their more recent LED counterparts. The last point alone partly defies the idea of “eneergz efficiency” for CFLs.

LED (light-emitting diodes) have entered the race for lighting our buildings a lot later but have been around for some time now. Even if their price tag usually shows higher upfront prices, these are amortized by LED-based lamps’ better efficiency. An old 60 W light bulb can be replaced with LED lams of just 4 W, therefore using just 1/15th of power. So it’s a good idea to pay a few pennies more upfront and get LED lamps right away that last longer (25-30 years, almost like a good mini wind turbine). The bottom line is that LED lamps surpass those low-energy CFLs and can total 90%-94% in energy savings and pay for themselves many times over, despite their higher initial purchasing cost.

Also, LEDs don’t wear out from heavy turning on and off and are thus suitable for all kinds of rooms including the ones you enter for just a few moments before switching the light off again. Remember, those strobe lights for bikes use LEDs without any wear and tear.

Add to this the absence of any harmful EMFs and the peace of mind that you may use them even at less than 5 ft from your head, and the LED is the clear overall winner for your lighting needs.

The highest mini wind FIT in the world is offered by the Canadian province of Nova Scotia since September 19th, 2011, but with a twist: the province has skipped solar energy altogether (not just PV but even highly efficient solar thermal and CSP) which has rightly been called ‘outright criminal’ by a local Halifax, NS newspaper; also, the ‘ComFIT’ scheme is limited to community projects only and thus excludes mainstream participants. It seems the province tried to make an ‘impressive program as cheap as possible’ and that some learning is still required in Nova Scotia. We do hope that current flaws are not permanent and that improvements will follow soon.

The Nova Scotia ComFIT appears to be a work in progress anyway with numerous updates and revamps being made already. Initially, the small wind band was even higher (at Can$0.66 per KWh) and has already been significantly reduced. We hope that reasonable additions will include an attractive FIT rate for solar technologies too and would like to stress that, although being less famous for their sunshine than Nova Scotia itself, even the U. K does have solar incentives including a very promising solar thermal FIT equivalent of 18p per KWh.

The CSP generator unit we announced earlier this year is both extremely powerful and small in size. Using CSP or Concentrating Solar Power, the SopoLite™ unit generates heat for both power generation or direct heat applications (hot water, air conditioning/refrigeration, process heat). The SopoLite™ system is available as a part of the Mini Wind & Solar Technologies program by ecoPen Ltd. For details about CSP in general and the SopoLite™ system, please e-mail or leave a Reply to this article below.

SopoLite™ can be adapted to Home Power applications and is suitable for larger-scale power generation including commercial process heat and electricity generation using thermal engines. Sopogy trough technology can be configured to replace natural gas or other fossil power plants and significantly reduce carbon emmissions.

The system consists of a scaled down version of Sopogy’s parabolic trough that is able to
follow the sun from east to west during the course of the day. As in a typical solar field, a
mineral oil circulating through the system gains temperature as the parabolic trough is
focused at the sun with a proprietary tracking system. The heat generated in this fashion is
typically used for electricity generation, air conditioning and process heat applications. On
the SopoLite™, various sensors measure the temperature gain, the flow velocities, solar
irradiance, wind speed, rainfall and ambient temperature. These parameters are used to
determine the thermal output of the collectors. The sophisticated controls allow remote
access to evaluate all relevant data through an interactive graphic interface.

CSP systems can be configured and scaled to suit all kinds of energy needs, from small Home Power generation and business/rental generators to larger arrays covering entire communities or commercial refer warehouses, for example. One of the key benefits of these CSP systems is customisation and modularity.

The pre-configured variants of the SopoLite™ system are able to cover larger and commercial energy needs and are priced around £49,600.00 in the U. K. or roughly €54,800.00 in Eurozone and other EEC countries. Although residential-scale or small business systems can be deployed, SopoLite™ systems are tailoured for and primarily focused towards larger-scale residential developments, real estate management, commercial energy users and businesses who want to green their operations and significantly cut on high energy cost.

In the U. K., SopoLite™ systems are expected to be eligible for payments of 18.6p per KWh equivalent generated under the MCS Solar Thermal scheme (green energy cashback).

For further details, to discuss system requirements or to receive a no-obligation quote for an individual project, please contact us using the Reply field below.

A new iPhone app for monitoring Home Power systems while on the move has been announced by Enecsys, a micro inverter manufacturer based in the U. K. and Germany.

The new iPhone app is compatible with all Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod touch) and displays generation information from Enecsys micro inverters. Micro inverters are a novel and efficient way of converting DC power from solar panels to appliance-grade AC (120 Volts/60 Hz in America or 230 Volts/50 Hz in Europe). Unlike central or string inverters connecting to an entire array of PV panels and requiring complicated and costly DC cabling, micro inverters plug in to one or two solar panels each and connect to the grid using ordinary plugs and a free socket.

Whereas central and string inverters usually require installation by a certified electrician, micro inverters are suitable for do-it-yourselfers as setup is easy and similar to plugging in a PC, radio or stereo equipment.

The new iPhone app makes monitoring of photovoltaic modules even simpler and more convenient. Launched at Intersolar Europe 2011 later this month, the app will be available direct from Apple’s iTunes store. Please register here to get notified once the app is released and available for immediate download.

The miniwindsystems.com website has been upgraded to provide significantly better response times even during higher-volume traffic. With new — and despite higher CPU clock speeds and overall better specs even more energy-efficient — hardware, we have addressed past performance issues and hope to provide a better user experience for everyopne interested in Mini Wind & Solar Technologies.

Enecsys solar PV micro inverter becomes the world’s first without electrolytic capacitors to gain U. S. certification to UL1741 standard

Cambridge, U. K., January 8, 2011: Enecsys Limited, a solar PV micro inverter company, has announced UL1741 certification for its products. The patented design of the Enecsys micro inverter uses a rugged topology that eliminates electrolytic capacitors and opto-couplers, components that limit operating life and compromise reliability. Enecsys 240W micro inverters are the first micro inverters without electrolytic capacitors to achieve UL1741 certification. The same product is also certified for use in Europe, making Enecsys is the first company to introduce a truly global solar PV micro inverter. The inverter has an operating life expectancy of greater than 25 years, matching that of solar PV modules. This transforms the economic model of solar PV systems through greatly enhanced system reliability, energy harvest, ease of installation and improved system safety.

Solar PV systems based on micro inverters harvest from 5 to 20% more energy over the life of the system, compared to traditional string inverter based systems. In a micro-inverter based system Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) is performed on each solar module and thus maximizing energy harvest even under partial shading, module mismatch or obstructions from leaves or debris. Systems are simpler to design and install and are safer because the high-voltage DC present in conventional solar PV installations is not present. No string inverter is needed because the DC output of each solar module is converted to AC using a micro-inverter mounted on the rack behind each module. This eliminates the central point-of-failure and the primary failure mechanism found in traditional inverters systems and micro inverters currently available in the market.

The reliability of Enecsys micro inverters has been verified using HALT, HASS and accelerated life tests to IEC61215, the same methodology used to test solar PV modules. The micro-inverters maintain full performance from -40 degrees C to +85 degrees C, ensuring efficient operation in real-world conditions. The Enecsys Wireless Monitoring System provides real time performance information for each solar module in order to maintain the high performance of the solar PV system throughout the operating lifetime.

The Enecsys micro inverter is designed to operate in both North American (60Hz) and European (50Hz) electricity grid systems. The micro inverters are safety and EMC evaluated to EN 62109, UL1741, TUV and CE. Country-specific requirements, including VDE V 0126-1: 2006 compliance, are achieved through the use of specific Enecsys installation products.

The beauty of a play in residential-scale Green Energy is its capability of hedging against both a general economic downturn and an increase in electricity prices at one go. Both are likely to happen rather soon (and yes, even though it may sound contradictory from a conventional economic point of view to have both a severe recession or even deflation and an increase in energy prices at roughly the same time, this is still a very likely scenario). The supporting fundamentals for both are in place, it’s just a matter of time for them to materialize.

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