Our Proven turbine comes down (only for maintenance)

Meantime, we have taken down our 5 year old Proven 2.5kw generator for maintenance. This is its third time coming down. Strictly speaking it should be its fifth. Unfortunately the bearings need to be greased, the slip rings need to be cleaned and have their springs oiled and a few other annual maintenace jobs are required. Thats a pity because for many people, taking the genny down is quite an expense, and if people are honest, it probably gets done less often than it should…
We are also taking the opportunity to change the blades as Proven claim that their new blades improve performance.
The Proven is a very robust machine and its blade system allows it to continue working in extreme winds when other turbines need to shut down. But the extra concrete and steel required for this may not be worth the small amount of extra power you get on such occasions depending on your site.
We should get it back up tomorrow and look forward to seeing how it works with the new blades.
Five years ago, we opted for a 24V battery based system. At the time, grid-tied systems were unthinkable in Ireland. Hopefully the situation has changed and we should see a feed-in tariff for turbines that are grid connected. This has been promised following a review of Smart Metering which is currently under way.