About Wind Energy at Renovus

The Problem

    Our company has been designing and installing renewable energy systems for several years now. After installing some of the most popular small wind turbines available in the U.S. - and having encountered various quality and performance issues - we found that we could not enthusiastically recommend any of them.

Our Solution

    This situation prompted us to search for a better option, which led us to small wind turbines manufactured by Fortis Windenergy  in the Netherlands (Holland). Through a sister company which shares our Ithaca office, Fortis America LLC  has become the importer and sole U.S. distributor of these high quality turbines.

    During the past two years, Renovus has installed several Fortis turbines in upstate New York and we are very happy with their performance to date. As such, we have decided, through Fortis America, to focus our energy on making these machines available to installers throughout the U.S. and to discontinue installing small wind turbines ourselves. We made this decision due to the necessarily close relationship between Renovus and Fortis America. It is our wish to not give the impression that Renovus might be afforded a "competitive advantage" against other potential Fortis dealer-installers in our region, particularly those who have become NYSERDA-eligible small wind installers.

Special clients

    Renovus reserves the right to make rare exceptions to this decision for special clients. By "special", we mean persons who:

    • Are remarkably patient - and therefore willing to endure the up to 1 year waiting period for all permits and approvals to be obtained for a grid-connected, NYSERDA-financed, small wind project, and

    • Realize that there are significant overhead costs associated with all of the permitting requirements which plague small wind system installers in NY state (e.g., zoning and planning board meetings, phone calls, e-mails, etc., etc.) which must be included in our Customer Purchase Agreement (CPA), and

    • Have an average annual wind resource greater than 5.5m/s (12.3mph) - which would provide Fortis America with the opportunity to collect useful turbine performance data.

    It is a rare property owner who can satisfy all three of these criteria. However, if you believe you are such a person, please fill out our secure SPECIAL CLIENT INFORMATION FORM. Please note that this form requires that you provide a value for your average annual wind resource. Before sending us this form, please refer to the detailed directions below to look up online your site's precise geographic coordinates and average annual wind speed. We know... doing this requires some time and effort... but you're serious about this (and patient) aren't you?

Fortis America inquiries

    Even if you do not meet our criteria for special clients, we would be pleased to forward your contact information to qualified dealer-installers of Fortis turbines in your area (if there are any). We will also follow up with an e-mail or phone call back to you to let you know that we have done so. If you would like us to do this, please fill out our secure GENERAL CLIENT INFORMATION FORM.

    Please send us this form only if you are interested in Fortis turbines. Please also realize that there may not be an approved dealer-installer of Fortis turbines in your area. If this turns out to be the case, we urge you to ask your local renewable energy company(ies) to consider it and to contact Fortis America. Please consult this list of NYSERDA-eligible small wind installers - not all of whom are currently dealer-installers of Fortis turbines - but (in our opinion) should be!

Wind resource assessment and NYSERDA financing

    Towns are rapidly adopting zoning ordinances regarding wind turbines and towers. Check with the Building Department and/or Code Enforcement officer for your Town or Muncipality.

    To qualify for NYSERDA's small wind system incentive, your property must be a minimum of one acre. Moreover, the wind turbine must be centered in a circle with a radius equal to the proposed tower height + the length of the wind turbine blades, and this circle must not overlap with power lines, property boundaries, roads, offices or homes. For example, for a Fortis Montana or Alizé on a 120ft guyed-lattice tower, this is a circle with a 131ft radius (262ft diameter) centered at the tower base.

    To qualify for NYSERDA's small wind system incentive, your site must have an average annual wind speed of 4.5m/s (10.1mph) or greater. From our experience, we recommend a minimum average annual wind speed of 5.0m/s (11.2mph) at a 30m (98ft) height.

    To find precise geographic coordinates for your site:

    • Use Google Maps to focus in on your site (the satellite imagery option, if available, is very helpful). Note that double clicking anywhere on the map centers that point in the display - which is very useful for determining exact coordinates of a prospective tower site.
    • Select the "Link to this page" link near the upper right corner of the map. This brings up a small window with a pre-formatted URL within which latitude and longitude values are embedded (in decimal degree units). Please note that the values you're looking for are preceded by "&ll=" (not "&sll" or "&sspn" or anything else)! Record these values and use them with the "Quick Zoom" tool in the NY Wind Resource Explorer (see below).
    • So... Here's an example URL obtained from a Google Maps "Link to this page" pop up window with the latitude and longitude values underlined for our building at 102 Cherry St. in Ithaca:
      http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=102+cherry+street,+ithaca,+ny &sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=41.682395,66.972656&ie=UTF8&ll=42.437584,-76.515613 &spn=0.009517,0.016351&z=16&iwloc=addr

    To quickly find the average annual wind speed for your site:

    1. Click here and select "Go to the NY Wind Resource Explorer".
    2. Click on the "Quick Zoom" tool - which comes up in another window. (Remember, you must know the precise geographic coordinates of your site - see above.) Go directly to your site by entering the Google Maps latitude and longitude values in the appropriate boxes and then click on the "Zoom" button in that window.
    3. After the "Quick Zoom" operation, you will probably see nothing more than star centered on a uniform white or pale yellow or light green background. DON'T PANIC... just proceed to the next step.
    4. This step is optional, but it can be reassuring: Click on the "Zoom Out" tool, then click one or more times exactly on the star marking the center of the map (the rotating windmill icon should appear between clicks). Several clicks may be necessary before identifiable landmarks (roads, streams, etc.) become visible around the zoomed site. Otherwise, the display may continue to show nothing more than a uniform white or pale yellow or light green background. Yes, we know... this is stupid and confusing - but we didn't write the software.
    5. Click on the "Wind Resource Report" tool, and then click one final time on the turbine site, i.e., on the star at the center of the map. This will open another window containing the report itself.
    6. In the Wind Resource table on the Wind Resource Report, look for the "Avg. Wind Speed (m/s)" at "24m Annual", "30m Annual" and "37m Annual" - which correspond to typical small wind turbine tower heights of approximately 79ft, 100ft and 121ft. The "30m Annual" value is the one you should report to us on the "Special" Client Information Form.

Finally, here are links to Frequently Asked Questions about small wind systems and to our company's small wind portfolio (under construction, back soon).

© Renovus Energy Inc.