Small wind Lessons learned in Sweden Header Sven

Small wind: Lessons learned in Sweden Header Sven Ruin Swedish • Body Power Association Wind Text Presented at the World Wind Energy Conference 2017

Why we need small wind • Off-grid power supply e. g. on remote locations • Building a more robust society by distributed generation / backup power • Empower citizens

But there is hardly any market here • • • The Swedish “support” system with Green Certificates is a disaster for many of our members and not much is done about it, which has caused electricity and certificates to have a very low price The Swedish grid has in the past been extended to almost all parts of the country, with subsidy, so off-grid market is small There is a separate support system for solar PV in Sweden Swedish government shows too little interest in building a robust society – instead of promoting peace and civil defense there is a focus on military solutions causing an unstable world, in my opinion Although Sweden nowadays has simplified rules for microgeneration and support for energy storage, the rules limit the citizens in their ambitions so they will still need to be grid-connected and buy electricity

Open source initiative • Some owners of wind turbines have a problem to keep them running because the supplier is not longer active • The Swedish Windpower Association has contacted the (former) owners of some Swedish manufacturers of small wind turbines, proposing that they release the design documentation as open source

IEC consumer label very useful • Based on testing only (even suitable for “do it yourself” designs) • Can be made at lower cost than type certification • Declared sound power level can be used in the permitting process here (unclear if AWEA rated sound level could be used) However • Measuring and reporting the sound of small wind turbines is a challenge – even certification bodies get it wrong sometimes

Some basic definitions Radiated sound from the source Source strength = emission = sound POWER level Example: 80 d. B(A) Sound level you hear (at a certain distance) Immission = sound PRESSURE level Example: 40 d. B(A)

Winner of our competition

Swedish innovators are still alive A few examples: • Wooden towers characterized by design and low carbon footprint • Novel anchor foundations • High wind penetration by small wind turbines that can control grid voltage and frequency on island grids • Power electronics for DC nanogrid including solar and wind, with integrated energy storage and current equalization between phases in the connection point to a three-phase AC system

You are welcome to get in touch! Contact: sven. ruin@teroc. se