Grid Tied Wind Power

The below project was part of a NYSERDA training course and the installation was for “The Farm” at Alfred State. What was unique about this project is that instead of using a crane for the installation, a temporary electric winch was strapped to the bottom of the tower base to lift each 20 foot section one at a time. The tower is what we call a 120 foot guyed wire tower. Because of the time of the year there was now way we could have gotten a crane to the location. The wind generator itself is a Bergey Excel S 10 kw unit. In the center picture we are lifting the main part of the unit into place. The owner of Solar & Wind FX is the one on the left perched a top the tower.

Below is an example of a guyed wire, tilt-up tower. In this type of tower application you would either use a vehicle or ground mounted winch. We used a 4 wheel drive truck. Not normally recommended. A tractor or tracked piece of equipment like a dozer would have been better. Best would be to use a winch mounted to a concrete slab. I’m unsure of the tower height. Either 85 or 106 foot tall. It should be noted that tilt-up towers are not designed to be climbed. The wind generator itself is an A.R.E. AWP 3.6. Approximate output is about 1 kw.