Small wind milestone: Bergey turbine first to obtain new AWEA Small Wind Turbine certification
Bergey Windpower’s BWC Excel 10 recently became the first turbine to receive full certification under the “AWEA Small Wind Turbine Performance and Safety Standard,” a new initiative providing consumer-accessible, third-party verification to denote real-world performance, efficiency and safety of small wind turbines.
The Small Wind Certification Council (SWCC), an independent organization funded by several states and the U.S. Department of Energy, awarded the Excel 10 its certification and an AWEA Rated Annual Energy (RAE) of 13,800 kWh. More than 2,000 Bergey 10-kW machines have been sold to homes, farms and small businesses in more than 46 states and 50 countries.
“This is huge for consumers because it addresses the ‘hucksters and hype’ problem in the small wind marketplace,” said Mike Bergey, president of Bergey Windpower and the 2011 president of the Distributed Wind Energy Association. “We are very proud to be the first to achieve this game-changing certification.”
The AWEA standard, based on existing international standards, was developed over a five-year period by a committee of over 30 individuals from industry, research organizations, universities, retailers and users and has been adopted in Canada and (a variation thereof) in the U.K. It was designed to provide consumers with a competitive rating based on a turbine’s performance. Certification to the standard is now a requisite for small wind turbine rebates in many states, such as California, New York, Oregon and Wisconsin.
“SWCC was set up to ensure that the reviews and the granting of small wind turbine certifications were held to the highest standards, so that consumers could be confident in the results,” said Larry Sherwood, executive director of the SWCC. “It’s a big burden for manufacturers, but it’s something the states with rebate programs have wanted for years—a way to ensure that the public’s money goes towards effective equipment. We have 27 turbine models from 24 manufacturers in line for certification, so I think manufacturers recognize the value of certification.”
For more information on the Bergey Excel 10 certification and ratings, go here.