KESTREL FEATURE

E v e r e a d y - K e s t r e l

feature

DRIVING THE

OF CHANGE

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ith its abundance of wind resources, manufacturing skills and a sophisticated infrastructure, it is obvious South Africa has the potential to become what enthusiasts are calling a “wind powerhouse”.

Earlier this month Silas Zimu, the new South African head of Indian wind turbine maker Suzlon - which is tendering to supply equipment for more than 800 megawatts of wind power in the country - identified the Eastern Cape as the most likely site for a production facility that could eventually supply sub-Saharan Africa.

Wind power is a very efficient form of energy – a lot more so than solar

With electricity price hikes in motion South Africa’s potential for small-scale windgenerated power is winning increasing interest and backing says Leon Gouws, sales and marketing director of brand leader Kestrel.

“I believe that wind has a very important place in South Africa’s energy portfolio,” said Zimu, a former Eskom manager. Suzlon chairman Tulsi Tanti agrees and says South Africa has “huge wind potential” Mention wind power and it’s the Global Big Beasts that come to mind, like the world’s largest offshore wind farm opened last month near south east England’s shoreline that will produce enough electricity to supply the equivalent of more than 200,000 homes a year.

But small-scale wind, or micro wind turbines, are playing an increasing part in people’s energy calculations - not least in price-hike South Africa, where Kestrel of Port Elizabeth is the dominant brand in the domestic market.

“Wind power is a very efficient form of energy and a lot more so than solar. And over the last five years wind power technology has improved markedly,” says Leon Gouws, sales and marketing director.

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North America, the Middle East and the whole of Africa – used to make up 90 percent of Kestrel’s sales. But over the past three months increasing consumer interest in South Africa has driven up domestic share in a rising market to 40 percent. “The South African market is growing sizably,” says Gouws.

Small-scale wind power is defined as wind generation systems with the capacity to produce up to 50 kW of electrical power.

It is attracting householders and others who want to reduce or eliminate their dependence on grid electricity – usually for cost reasons or reduce their carbon footprint.

Another prime market is isolated communities where wind turbines can displace diesel fuel consumption. In remote areas wind turbines have been used for household electricity generation in conjunction with battery storage for many decades.

Grid-connected wind turbines reduce consumption of utility-supplied electricity.

Off-grid system use renewable energy from small wind stored in batteries and backed up by a small diesel system to supplement the wind turbine. Telecommunications is a Kestrel target market, in effect internet gateways powered by a wind turbine that charges a small battery and replacing the need for a connection to the power grid.

In the harsh desert conditions of Namibia location of many Kestrel projects - additional repeater stations and telecommunication towers are needed in the more remote areas – some without access to a power source.

Now Kestrel micro wind turbines are supplying independent power to the towers, more advantageous than noisy and polluting generators, or the costly cables otherwise needed to accommodate a tower’s power requirements.

Water pumping from wind turbines is another major area business along with other off-group type solutions. “Here in South Africa we run off-grid schools and even communities,” says Gouws.

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How much could a homeowner expect to save by switching to micro turbine wind power? “Based on the electricity you pay the return on investment will be between five and seven years. But if it’s a remote site the ROI will be much quicker; from as little as six months to three or four years.”

But with necessary wind conditions not accessible to everyone, how are we to know if it will work for us? “First we would get your location latitude and longitude then draw up an analysis of wind performance in you area. And if it was insufficient we would advise you not to install a wind turbine.

“But in that case you would very likely still have a solar option. Overall in many parts of South Africa wind would be excellent, in others solar, and in some areas wind and solar would provide an excellent combination.

“In the case of water pumping for the farming community I would install and monitor how well it works before payment. If it doesn’t meet the customer’s expectations, Kestrel will remove it. This approach has been very successful.

“We do not see ourselves as being in competition with solar but more a partner.

Although solar is not a part of our manufacturing operation, consumer or telecommunication designs and solutions may well include solar if it is beneficial.”

It is four years since Kestrel, which had been developing since 1999, joined Eveready, South Africa’s only consumer battery manufacturer. As a result Kestrel now trades under the name Eveready Diversified products.

Since then Eveready-Kestrel wind turbines and support system have achieved

Technology has changed significantly and more and more buyers are coming into the market

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recognition across the globe. And last year Kestrel was recognised as The Proudly South African Innovator of the Year, with its exporting record achieving Best Exporter awards in 2008 and 2009.

Kestrel now provides a full range of small wind turbine solutions in the 600w, 800w, 1kW and 3kW range. And because of their robust construction and unique engineering, Kestrel turbines have proven to be the product of choice for telecommunications, off-grid, grid connected and water pumping solutions.

Safety and optimum operational performance are other brand attributes.

“Kestrel turbines by their design cannot overspeed,” says Gouws. “Overspeeding brings two problems: a machine will tear itself apart and break, and secondly if the generator is spinning too fast the voltage can become so high that it can damage both itself and down line components”

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In these excessive wind conditions competitor machines respond by either shutting down or adjusting their rotor to the side of the wind and slowing down.

“It’s a very basic way of preventing the machine overspeeding but so much energy generation is lost. It means every time the wind gusts the machine turns out of the wind to slow down and energy output reduces again, which can happen constantly.”

Kestrel turbines however include a feature only seen on the large wind power generators – pitch control. “This means the machine is always looking into the wind and therefore producing maximum output.

A Kestrel machine is practically indestructible because of the pitch control. It will not overspeed.

And because of this, compared to one of our biggest competitors in the US, a Kestrel machine provides double the output, a very big advantage.”

The potential for wind power in South Africa is “massive,” says Gouws, “but at present the Government is not taking advantage.

From a renewable point of view, and especially wind, either large scale or small, South Africa is doing little compared with the rest of Africa. There is still a lot of work to be done on supplying energy into the grid.

“People can be sceptical about wind, but technology has changed significantly and more and more buyers are coming into the market.

“Give it two years in South Africa and electricity prices will have gone up by another 25 percent, then another 25 percent. At that point the ROI on a micro turbine will be down to three years. And with this very good return on their capital investment more and more people will be installing.” END

With this very good return on their capital investment, more and more people will be installing

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