|
U.S. DOE Funds SWCC
|
SWCC thanks the U.S. Department of Energy, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and other sponsors for financial assistance they have provided to SWCC to assist with the start-up of the small wind turbine certification program.
Click here for a list of all SWCC funders.
|
|
|
|
Greetings!
SWCC continues to see new certifications and other certification activity, with our current tally at 10 wind turbine models carrying full or partial SWCC certifications. In addition, SWCC recently obtained an increase in our accreditation scope, reflecting the new activities for medium wind certification.
We provide updates below on efforts to promote certification, recent SWCC Board and Officer election results, and a profile of one of SWCC's Commissioners in our ongoing series.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments about SWCC activities.
Larry SherwoodExecutive Director |
|
SWCC Accreditation Scope Expanded
 | |
Endurance E-3120 Turbine
|
In 2012, SWCC was accredited by the
American Association for
Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) as a Product Certification Conformity Assessment Body with a scope that included certification of small wind turbines to AWEA Standard 9.1-2009. The international standard to which we are accredited, ISO/IEC Guide 65, has now been revised to ISO/IEC 17065. SWCC has updated its certification system and many of our Policies in response to this change and is currently in the process of renewing our accreditation. You can see the current versions of all SWCC policies here.
In January 2014, A2LA granted a scope extension to our accreditation to include our new Wind Turbine Performance Certification program for medium wind turbines. In this new service, SWCC offers certification of Power Performance to IEC 61400-12-1 and Acoustic Performance to IEC 61400-11 for wind turbines with a swept area greater than 200 m2. You can find the updated scope of accreditation here.
|
 |
Applicant Updates
On December 18, 2013, certifications of the Evance R9000 and the Xzeres Skystream 3.7 were renewed for another year. In February, Endurance Wind Power submitted an acoustic test report for Acoustic Performance Certification of the E-3120 under test at the Windward Engineering facility in Utah. The Kestrel e400nb from Eveready Products in South Africa, an SWCC certified turbine, was recently added to the Interstate Turbine Advisory Council (ITAC) unified list of wind turbines. On March 14, 2014, SWCC granted Limited Power Performance (LPP) certification for the Xzeres 442SR under test at the UL/WTAMU facility in Texas. See the full list of SWCC Applicants
here. See the ITAC list here.
|
|
|
Commissioner Profile -
Malcolm Lodge
Malcolm A. Lodge, one of three SWCC Certification Commissioners,  is founder and President of Island Technologies Incorporated, an electrical engineering and wind energy system consulting and design firm. Malcolm has thirty years experience in wind energy engineering and has designed, managed and constructed wind energy systems and projects worldwide. Mr. Lodge was founder, designer and manager from 1980 to 1990 of the Atlantic Wind Test Site (AWTS), Canada's national laboratory for wind energy systems evaluation and testing. During this period he worked closely with other international wind energy research laboratories in the USA, Denmark, Netherlands, Greece, and Germany to develop standards for wind turbines and for development of wind-diesel technology. Mr. Lodge was founding president of the Canadian Wind Energy Association and has held many director positions in other renewable energy organizations, standards agencies and advisory groups to government. He received a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours Distinction from Nova Scotia Technical College in 1962 and a Masters in Engineering specializing in Control Systems Design in 1964. He has been awarded the R.J. Templin Award for outstanding contribution to the development of Canadian Wind Energy Technology.
|
|
|
DWEA Promotes Certification
At its Third Annual Capitol Hill event, the Distributed Wind Energy Association urged that public assistance through the Investment Tax Credit, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Renewable Energy for America Program, and other funding opportunities only be provided for wind turbines that have been tested and certified for safety, function, performance and durability so that valuable taxpayer funds can be made available to products with dependable performance estimates and demonstrated compliance with safety standards.
Federal adoption of certification requirements is expected to lead to more state and utility programs adopting similar measures, helping to improve the reliability of performance estimates as a significant step toward increasing mainstream interest in wind technology. Many incentive programs for solar and other technologies require adherence to industry standards, and momentum is gaining for increased wind qualification criteria now that a variety of wind turbine models have achieved certification, as publicized in the Fourth Quarter 2013 edition of the U.S. Department of Energy Wind Program Newsletter.
|
|
SWCC Elects Officers and Directors
The following Directors were elected for a three-year term beginning in January 2014:
- Government/Laboratory Sector, Mark Mayhew, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
- Public/Organization Sector: Karin Sinclair, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- Industry Sector: Michael Bergey, Bergey Windpower
- Installer Sector: Gary Harcourt, Great Rock Windpower LLC
The following officers were elected for 2014:
- President: Trudy Forsyth
- Vice President: Tal Mamo, United Wind
- Secretary: Megan Amsler, Cape and Islands Self Reliance
- Treasurer: Karin Sinclair, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
SWCC thanks David Blittersdorf, AllEarth Renewables, Roy Butler, Four Winds Renewable Energy, and Mick Sagrillo, Sagrillo Power & Light, who have completed their service on the SWCC Board of Directors.
|
|
|
