Vector is to start trialling rooftop wind turbines imported from Scotland. The Swift turbines, manufactured by Renewable Devices in Edinburgh, are rated at 1.5kW and quiet enough for urban use. The first trial site is the Waitakere City Council building (Waitakere has a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85% by 2050). In NZ conditions, it’s expected that the Swifts will deliver between 2,000 and 3,000 kWh per year – around a quarter of the average household’s electricity usage. I wonder how the Swifts might cope with a North Canterbury nor’wester?
5 thoughts on “Coming soon to a roof near you”
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Gareth, these are way cool. Will this sort of small time change make much difference, when a 1% shift at Comalco, or at a Chinese coal fired plant for that matter, could be the equivalent an entire NZ town?
Acorns and oaks, Vincent. If every house in NZ got 25% of its power from renewables and the rest from the grid, we wouldn’t need to burn any coal or gas in power stations (because our system is about 66% hydro and 12% geothermal).
In a global sense, nothing NZ does will make any difference, but the world is made up of lots of groups of 4 million people, and every one of them needs to do something about moving to a low-carbon economy.
I say good for Vector for giving this a go and I hope the Swifts live up to expectations – To achieve this Vector will need to pick their sites well. Noted small wind enthusiasts such as Paul Gipe and Hugh Piggott have their doubts.
Hello, I would like some more information on this Vector wind generator – availability, cost etc. Thanks
Hi Tania
I asked Swift about a year ago if I could buy one of these and they weren’t interested in selling one off’s..
Your choices would seem to be
a) go to Scotland with a big suitcase
b) Give Vector a call (have a look on http://www.vector.co.nz) – but you may have to wait until the trial is finished.
Good luck – and if you live in North Canterbury I might be able to give you some idea of how good the wind is near you.