Why Small Wind?
About Skystream
Skystream 3.7 is a breakthrough in a new generation of residential and commercial power appliances that is changing how small businesses and homes worldwide supply their energy needs. Developed in conjunction with the US Department of Energy, Skystream is the first and only small wind turbine that will produce distributed electricity in the 11 cent per kW range over the life of the turbine.
- All-inclusive design with inverter and controls built in
- Easily installed
- Graceful, eye-catching design
- Facility uses energy from Skystream first, then draws from grid
- Excess energy accumlates credit where net metering is available
- Low maintenance - only two moving parts
- Wireless communications for performance monitoring
- Wireless software updates
- Five-year warranty
Commercial Installations
Installation of Skystream is an extremely simple process and can be accomplished using a new or retrofitted light pole, or a dedicated stand-alone tower.
Light Pole or Shared Tower Installations: Skystream can be mounted utilizing shared infrastructure such as parking lot light towers. In these cases Southwest Windpower can provide a modified light tower arrangement to closely match existing lighting. If needed, custom tower can be designed.
Stand Alone Installations: This is a very simple process that can be completed by a trained dealer, electrical contractor or mechanical contractor. Towers can be selected from 33, 45 and 60 foot heights. Both the 33 and 45 foot towers are available with tilt up hinge plates.
Purchase: Skystream turbines can either be purchased directly by the client or if applied in large enough volumes can be utilized under a PPA (power purchase agreement). A PPA offers the all of the benefits of Skystream along with off balance sheet financing. Under a PPA agreement, a third party would purchase and install the turbines at the clients facility, provide green energy to the facility and then bill the client on a monthly basis for a term contract. In most cases, the minimum volume for a PPA to be applicable is around a quantity of 15-20 Skystream turbines.
Benefits
By installing a Skystream system you are not only offsetting energy costs, you are investing in a visible message to your customers and employees that you embrace sustainability. With an eye-catching design and the ability to be installed in heavily trafficked areas, Skystream can be easily integrated into a parking lot or building design to generate on-site green energy and help deliver your green message.
Skystream provides a full range of advantages to commercial and retail customers. While companies may have different motivations around implementing renewable energy and sustainability in general, the benefits of doing so are extensive. Typical benefits include:
- The financial and economic benefits of generating on-site renewable energy (see cost/benefit analysis section)
- A cost offset to common area maintenance (CAM) charges for the retailer
- Reduced carbon emissions
- Partial or total independence from the local utility and/or fossil fuels
- Utilization and leveraging of existing resources
- Positive sustainable image to the local community
- Positive corporate image from taking a community leadership role model
- Increased customer pull-through due to visibility and positive PR
- “Free” PR and advertising generated from local and regional press coverage
- Competitive advantage derived by differentiating your site from that of your competitors
- Green tag credits from distributed generation of renewable energy which can be held to reduce your facilities carbon footprint or sold to other companies
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Over the past years, the cost of renewable energy has significantly declined while the benefits in terms of both hard financial metrics and soft benefits have dramatically increased. Due to the low cost of installation small wind and Skystream in particular, continues to offer the best cost to benefit ratio of all alternative technologies. In order to determine the true return on the investment the following variables should be taken into consideration:
Costs:
+ Equipment Costs of turbine and tower
+ Installation costs: foundation and electrical
= Total Hard Costs
Benefits:
- Elimination of the cost of a standard light pole (in the case of a shared tower)
- Rebates or refunds from State Incentives where applicable
- Annual energy savings from power produced on-site
- Annual credits/refunds from the utility company (in cases where excess power is fed back into the power grid during courses of excess energy production)
Additional Soft Benefits:
While the soft benefits may be harder to quantify, in many cases our customers believe that these benefits alone pay for the cost of the installation alone.
- Free positive publicity generated from the installation
- Increased customer pull through from the attention derived from the installation
- Competitive differentiation
- Positive community image
- Future value of green tags
The overall energy produced from Skystream and corresponding savings is dependent upon a few key variables includes average wind speed, siting conditions and cost of kWh. While output and savings will vary depending on these conditions the below graphs illustrate power generation and estimated energy savings over Skystream’s life. Based on an average wind speed of 12.5 mph approximately 5,000 kW/h’s will be generated annually. While energy production is linear based on fixed wind speed, the overall energy savings are not. The savings graph below shows the expected return based on a current kWh cost of 11 cents factoring in the expected increase of energy on an annual basis over the life of the turbine.
Because the overall power generated from small wind turbines is directly related to average wind speed at the location, siting of the turbines is an important factor. While Skystream will produce energy at wind speeds as low as 8 mph, the typical threshold used to determine a site’s viability based solely on economics, not considering other benefits is between 10 and 12 mph of wind speed.
Contact Us
For more information, contact our commercial accounts department:
Phone: 928-779-9463
Email: commercial@windenergy.com
