Message-ID: <199703212015.MAA16702@cdp.igc.apc.org> Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 12:15:20 -0800 From: Tom Gray <mailto:tomgray@IGC.ORG> Subject: --Turbine for Morocco Greenhouse To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
ATLANTIC ORIENT TURBINE JOINS GREENHOUSE DIESELS IN MOROCCOA 50-kW turbine developed by Atlantic Orient Corp. (AOC) of Norwich, Vt., under the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Wind Turbine program will soon be shipped to Morocco, where it will be combined with two diesel generators to supply power to a greenhouse farm owned by that country's king.
The farm, according to Peter Hughes of AOC, is located in a desert area near the ocean, but is irrigated with water from artesian wells 400 feet deep. The turbine, Hughes said, will cut fuel costs at the farm and provide added power for such things as hot water for the farm's staff.
Currently, he said, the facility pays about 50 cents/kWh for power from the diesel units, most of which goes to irrigation pumps and vegetable sorting machines: "They have to turn the diesel off at 9 p.m. to save on fuel expenses." With the AOC turbine, Hughes said, the farm "will have trouble using all of the electricity they will have. We will bring the average cost of power down to around 10 cents/kWh."
Even with irrigation, the farm, which covers "several football fields" in area, must be enclosed in a transparent plastic covering, Hughes said, because the high winds at the site make surface water evaporate so quickly that the soil remains too dry. The annual average wind speed is approximately 9 m/s (20 mph), and in that wind regime the turbine can produce 250,000 kWh annually, he added.
The total cost of adding the turbine to the farm's power system, Hughes said, is about $80,000, including the price of the turbine plus additional engineering support and supervisory controls.
The AOC 15/50, the turbine to be used, was developed during the first phase of the Advanced Wind Turbine program, which called for proposals for upgrading existing windfarm turbine designs to eliminate observed problems and improve performance. The AOC machine is based on the Enertech E-44 and, like that turbine, is a three-bladed, downwind, passive yawing design. The 15/50 has an integrated drive train, redundant braking (tip brakes and a dynamic brake), and uses a "thick airfoil" from a series developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
For further information, contact Atlantic Orient Corp., PO Box 1097, Norwich, VT 05055, USA, phone (802) 649-5446, fax (802) 649-5404, e-mail <mailto:indiantiger@juno.com>.
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