Truth About Skystream & SWWP

[inetdog]

Dave,

Excellent write up - you're doing good stuff the way you are approaching this!

I have wondered why wind turbine companies don't offer instrumentation tests for the perspective sites... put a weather kit at altitude of the prospective location (similar to the solar detector used to see how much light is falling on a perspective customer's roof).....

In addition to the negative effect on sales, a useful measurement would involve leaving the instrumentation there for a full year, so it would not be cost effective for the system supplier to do it unless they actually rented the equipment to the prospect. And put it on a 50' tower or wherever the turbine would be going.
Honest forums like this one regularly suggest that a serious off-grid small wind prospect get a years worth of data before actually planning and buying a system. And that they start with PV as the base system. And that they have a very good idea of the planned load.
A lot of up front work before spending any money is required to get any payback other than fun.

[springer-]

You bought two Skystreams with the towers for $5000 total or $5000 each?

$5000 total. Then to take them down and move them about 50 miles it cost me $850. The shocker today was figuring out I need #8 rebar for the pads. That is 1" diameter!! I was expecting to use 1/2" rebar, now I have to source some 1". I expect it to be somewhat expensive. Then I estimate about 20 yards of fiber reinforced 4000 psi concrete at about 105 per yard. The bolt kits I found on line and calling dealers averaged $600-$1000 each. I found a company to make them to spec for $550 for 2 kits delivered.

So doing all the math we have

5000 cost of windmills
850 take down and move
2100 concrete
550 bolts
1000 est for rebar at $3 per foot

$9500 est total ... previous est of $8500 was assuming I could use rebar I already have.

I am also thinking about making a hinge plate for each one and a gin pole to ease future ups and downs. Anyone have a hinge plate for a 17" base bolt pattern and a gin pole for the same that can take some pictures and demensions for me?

Thanks

[waynefromnscanada]

Do you have access to sun for most or all of the day? Meaning you are not shaded by neighbors trees, buildings, mountains etc. If so, I would strongly suggest you consider unloading the Skystreams and putting that money into solar before you go any further in the hole with this project. Not kidding!

[Wade]

$5000 is a great price. All the other stuff adds up fast doesn't it. If you don't mind me asking where are you located? You mentioned you hope to get $60 to $80 dollars savings a month. Where I am, south of Fort Worth, that would come out to 550 - 730 KWh generated. I hope it works out for you. Good luck!

[BB.]

There was one Skystream owner (blog.keepturning.com website long since abandoned) (near Lake Erie?) during the good months, as I remember:

JANES HOUSEHOLD SKYSTREAM kWh RECORD

	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC	Total
2007	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	175	225	0*	400
2008	98*	292	308	246	228	153	92	84	97	164	246	472	2,480
2009	265	348	244	371	182	86	90	84	250	100	194	131*	2,345
2010	101	130

* December, 2007 - Skystream shut down from software problem with cold and would not restart.
* January, 2008 - Skystream down until the 27th. Produce 98kWh in the 5 days remaining in the month.
* December, 2009 - Skystream shut down several times and would not restart on it's own, production very low for wind speeds.
* January, 2010 - Production very low for wind speeds.
* February, 2010 - Production very low for wind speeds.

-Bill

[springer-]

$5000 is a great price. All the other stuff adds up fast doesn't it. If you don't mind me asking where are you located? You mentioned you hope to get $60 to $80 dollars savings a month. Where I am, south of Fort Worth, that would come out to 550 - 730 KWh generated. I hope it works out for you. Good luck!

I am in Maine. I was hoping 60-80 per month is a average estimate for 2 of them. However I have been rethinking it and have listed one back for sale. If I can sell one and cover the cost of purchase, then it will essentially be free and anything it produces will be a bonus. ie no ROI needed. Then I can take the money and put it in other alternative energy like solar or solar hot water.

We'll see if I get any responces and in the mean time I will do 1 install. At least that is the plan for the moment. The comments here have me thinking.

[ggunn]

$5000 total. Then to take them down and move them about 50 miles it cost me $850. The shocker today was figuring out I need #8 rebar for the pads. That is 1" diameter!! I was expecting to use 1/2" rebar, now I have to source some 1". I expect it to be somewhat expensive. Then I estimate about 20 yards of fiber reinforced 4000 psi concrete at about 105 per yard. The bolt kits I found on line and calling dealers averaged $600-$1000 each. I found a company to make them to spec for $550 for 2 kits delivered.

So doing all the math we have

5000 cost of windmills
850 take down and move
2100 concrete
550 bolts
1000 est for rebar at $3 per foot

$9500 est total ... previous est of $8500 was assuming I could use rebar I already have.

I am also thinking about making a hinge plate for each one and a gin pole to ease future ups and downs. Anyone have a hinge plate for a 17" base bolt pattern and a gin pole for the same that can take some pictures and demensions for me?

Thanks

I hate to sound like a broken record and I apologize if this was asked and answered somewhere in this megathread, but do you have a year's worth of data to support the viability of wind turbines at the site and elevation where you plan to build this installation? That's an awful lot of money - by my standards, anyway - to spend on a chancy system.

[halfcrazy]

I am in Maine. I was hoping 60-80 per month is a average estimate for 2 of them. However I have been rethinking it and have listed one back for sale. If I can sell one and cover the cost of purchase, then it will essentially be free and anything it produces will be a bonus. ie no ROI needed. Then I can take the money and put it in other alternative energy like solar or solar hot water.

We'll see if I get any responces and in the mean time I will do 1 install. At least that is the plan for the moment. The comments here have me thinking.

Where in Maine? I am in Central Maine and have Wind and PV I can tell you the money you spend on Wind will never come close to producing the KWH per year the PV will. I do wind because it is Fun and living off grid it fills in the few voids I have during the winter storms. I will have a look at the Classic controller on my neighbors 17ft machine and it shows 1786 KWH total and I installed that about a year ago.

Ryan

[ChasMtnMan]

Hello AGAIN. I removed my posting on this site in Dec. 2011, as a result of a Better Business Bureau Arbitration Decision which required me to do so; but, it also required Southwest Windpower to relocate one of my towers to a more favorable location on our property and to replace both of our 45' 3-section towers with single section 45' towers, and the LEVEL them and place them in service. The Company did all that was require of them EXCEPT to get 'em LEVEL. They abandoned the project; therefore I feel that I'm not under any obligation to not to continue to tell my story. Rather than go into detail here, please visit my website at: http://b-d.ranch.tripod.com/twoskyst...ionsgonewrong/ as I've updated it and you can read "the rest of the story" (as Paul Harvey would say). I don't expect anything else from this company. As a retired person on S.S. and fixed income, this was the worst decision I've ever made. The Company promoted and advertised that the average customer would save from 30-80% on their electric energy requirements from ONE Skystream 3.7 Wind Turbine. Over a 3-year period, my savings have been 7.5%! Being between "Medicare and Death", nothing matters much any more. Considering the state of the Nation and the Economy, there's no better time to be OLD than now! Best of Luck to all of you who have invested in this product.

[BB.]

It does not get any better with time. I am truly sorry that you have so many problems with your installation. The updates don't look any better since you last posted.

-Bill