Ecotricity launches British wind turbine venture

Britwind, which will manufacture the turbines from a new factory in Gloucestershire, will sell two new turbine designs that are currently going through accreditation under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). 

 

This new plant will be intended to provide an end-to-end service all under one roof – from designing and manufacturing the wind turbines, to gaining planning permission, installing and maintaining the turbines, through to selling excess electricity that has not been used.

 

The main aim is that this move will almost halve the cost of producing energy when compared to the UK’s current best-selling small wind turbine.

 

Ecotricity founder Dale Vince decided to save Evance Wind when it entered administration in May, after he recognised the potential of an innovative new wind turbine design that was then 90% of the way through development.

 

Because Ecotricity itself already had a small vertical-axis turbine – called the Urbine – at a similar stage of development, the two new wind turbine designs are going through final accreditation under the MCS, prior to launching in 2015 under the Britwind banner. These machines are the V6 vertical-axis 6kW type (this is the ‘Urbine), plus the H15 horizontal-axis 15kW turbine.

 

The wind turbine towers will be made by Ecotricity’s wind mast company Nexgen. 

 

Ecotricity claims that these new wind turbines will be ideal for use with a wide range of rural and semi-rural locations, including small business premises, farms, rural properties, schools, and sporting clubs.

 

Commented Dale Vince: "Britwind will design and manufacture 100 per cent British windmills that are some of the most innovative in the world - they will bring big wind performance to small wind.

 

"What that means is that we've almost halved the cost of making energy when compared to a similar-sized small windmill. That's a radical transformation for the industry," he pointed out, saying also that this is also a boost for UK manufacturing. 

 

So while Ecotricity has been building large wind turbines to provide power to big business, such as Ford and Michelin factories, at lower cost, now, Britwind aims to do the same for small and medium sized businesses.

 

By combining wind turbine design innovation with an end-to-end service, Britwind says it will be able to install its new machines at no risk to customers, and providing landowners with green electricity at much lower energy bills.

 

 

However, it is noteworthy that the UK coalition government has been giving out at best mixed messages on wind power recently, and in addition, a new report is warning that the market for small and medium-sized wind turbines is facing an uncertain future. Indeed, trade association RenewableUK says that government cuts to feed-in tariff incentives have led to a drastic slowdown in demand for smaller turbines.