Getting power is just a breeze

Press, 3 September 1986, Page 17

Getting power is just a breeze

If the breeze is strong enough to rustle leaves on trees, Ron Clarke’s wind generators will make electricity. The Australian engineer says his high-tech “windmills,” using the latest electronic process control devices, give a new dimension to remote power generation by producing power in wind speeds as low as Bkm/h, reports Mike Rosel for the Australian Information Service. Although his company, Wind Technology, has concentrated on overcoming the problem of extracting electrical energy from light winds, the concept is also being applied to large machines being evaluated in the state of Victoria for inclusion in the main electricity grid. Later this year a 75kW model with 20m diameter blades will be tested by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria at a windy coastal site near Geelong. For average domestic use, Wind Technology offers three basic wind generators producing 1, 3 and 5 kilovolt-amperes (kVA), starting in winds as low as 13km/h. The generators charge heavy batteries producing 240 volts alternating current (50Hz) with automatic-start rotary inverters ensuring an output steady enough for even the most sensitive electronic equipment Mr Clark worked on electronic engineering systems with the Royal Australian Navy and with a United States instruments company in Melbourne before moving to the small town of Bethanga, Victoria, in 1979; subsequently setting up a company specialising In process control computer systems. .