EarthTronics snags Honeywell name on its new gearless wind turbine
June 8, 2009 - Exclusive By Lisa Sibley, Cleantech Group
As the small wind turbine market grows, a Muskegon, Mich.-based company thinks its new product could become the “Blackberry of wind.”
A new wind turbine from Muskegon, Mich.-based EarthTronics is coming to a hardware store near you, opening up new potential markets in low-wind areas. The turbine starts generating power at wind speeds as low as 2 miles per hour.
The company launched its Honeywell Wind Turbine today, a new wind energy system for home and business owners that EarthTronics said has higher performance output and lower installed cost per kilowatt than any other unit on the market.
EarthTronics President Reg Adams told the Cleantech Group the company is planning to market the new turbine across America for residential and light commercial uses, hoping for it to become the “Blackberry of wind.”
“We want to relieve pressure off the grid by bringing energy generation to the demand location, in other words, to your home or your commercial facility,” Adams said.
EarthTronics worked with Honeywell International (NYSE:HON), licensing the Honeywell brand to put on its turbine. Adams said Honeywell, a technology and manufacturing company that makes everything from air purifiers to aerospace
products, has an interest in alternative energy. EarthTronics has also committed to build larger turbine units for Honeywell, which could be used through Honeywell's business development group.
A new report this month from the American Wind Energy Association, the AWEA Small Wind Turbine Global Market Study, highlights how the U.S. market for small wind turbines grew 78 percent in 2008, with a total of 17.3 megawatts of new installed capacity, compared to 14 percent in 2007, with 9.7 MW of new capacity (see Windation eyes commercial buildings for enclosed turbines).
Small wind turbines are those with a capacity of 100 kW or less. The report indicates the growth is due largely to private equity investment in the sector, as well as economies of scale, increasing electricity prices and growing public interest.
The EarthTronics wind turbine, made of stainless steel and plastic, measures six feet in diameter and weighs less than 95 pounds. It can produce over 1,500 kilowatt hours per year in low wind speeds, which is about 15 percent of an average household’s energy needs.
One of the company’s competitors Southwest Windpower, which makes the Skystream wind turbine, hasn’t yet been able to produce 1,000 kilowatt hours, Adams said. He said it’s still a good turbine but requires higher wind capacities, citing the problem that in America only 10 percent of the country has high enough wind speeds to power traditional turbines.
In 2006, Southwest Windpower received Underwriters Laboratories (UL) certification for a key component its Skystream 3.7 residential-scale wind generator (see Southwest Windpower shipping new UL-approved residential generator).
Another competitor, BroadStar Wind Energy, emerged from stealth in 2008 revealing its AeroCam Turbine, which it claims can be deployed almost anywhere—including urban environments—at a cost-effective $1 per watt installed.
Other wind medium-to-small turbine equipment companies include Bergey Windpower, Solar Wind Works and Entegrity Wind Systems (see The
race for affordable wind).
Startup Windation Energy Systems began taking orders earlier this year for its enclosed turbines for commercial rooftops. The 5-kilowatt capacity unit costs $40,000, plus $10,000 for installation by crane. It can generate power with winds starting at 7 mph.
The EarthTronics turbine generates energy from its fast-moving gearless blade tips, rather than a complex center gear box like its competitors. The blade tip system cuts in at wind speeds as low as 2 mph and as high as 45 mph. Adams described the hub of the development as a “center bicycle wheel concept.”
“We have no gearbox and generators in the center hub. It’s just like a large bearing on a bicycle wheel,” he said.
The Blade Tip Power System eliminates mechanical resistance and drag, Adams said, and also doesn’t have the typical noise associated with wind turbines. The blades “free wheel” like a pinwheel, he said.
The product, when packaged with EarthTronic’s compact fluorescent light bulb kit, offers 30 percent yearly saving on home energy bills, or 18 percent savings without the bulb kit.
Adams said he expects demand for the product to be driven by growing state and federal renewable energy incentives. U.S. consumers can receive a 30 percent rebate when they purchase turbines, thanks to the new federal tax credits in the U.S. (see Solar takes stock after tax-credit battle).
EarthTronics reviewed more than 280 wind turbines before selecting its current model, developed by E-Net and invented by Imad Mahawili, former director of the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center at Michigan's Grand Valley State University. EarthTronics licensed the technology from E-Net and has taken the product through to commercial launch. The technology is patented in 120 countries.
EarthTronics is ramping up production with 3,000 orders to be released to Ace Hardware stores in October for a $4,500 retail price.
By December, Adams said the company plans to be producing 5,000 units per month, and then doubling that by March 2010. He alluded to the private company’s planned IPO route in the future, and intent to take the company’s technology global. Adams wouldn't disclose the names of investors but said the company isn’t venture backed.
The first pilot plant is slated for either the United States or Canada, Adams said, with a final decision to be made by the company’s board of directors in June.
During the next 24 months to 30 months, EarthTronics plans to build six or seven additional production plants to serve customers in India, China, Europe and North America, which are emerging markets for power demand.