Wind power stimulating the US economy?
During the last presidential election you may have noticed all of the wind turbine shown in the campaign ads. The current administration has made wind power a centerpiece in the strategy to create new jobs. That may be true with large scale commercial wind turbine building. On the residential wind systems side nothing can be further from the truth.
Examining the major small wind power companies on the market and you may conclude your analysis as I have. The only products that are made in the USA are the guys that are rebuilding Delco alternators give or take fact the large rare earth magnets they use in constructing the product are imported from China. My issue with those products is that every one we have tested…. has exaggerated their output. They will charge a 12 volt battery system but you are not going to get the 1000 watts you are promised, more like 250 in strong winds. Kind of frustrating trying to explain to my customers when they purchase a 1000 watt grid tie system to match up to the product they purchased and I have to explain the consumer they really one need a 250 watt grid tie as they have been hosed. For the sake of being nice I will not name the companies in the article but if you want to know who to steer clear of, contact me.
Other companies advertise products as made in the USA when what they should be saying is assembled in the USA. Over the last few years. I have repeatedly tried to find a company to build a generator head for my line of Hurricane Wind Turbines. Some of the companies did not have the ability to produce a generator head to the specs I provided. I am talking about companies that are supposed to be industry leaders The other group of companies offered to build prototypes with no guarantee that cost 10,000 to 50,000 dollars. The Moog company….I will mention by name reported to me that for 100,000 dollars they would have an engineer look at it but could not guarantee that a product could be developed. I thought at that time that was the most baffling offer I had ever heard. Made me think I should be in that business or if anyone actually takes them up on the offer.
I am confused when I hear politicians speak on the platform that wind energy is our new frontier when we produce very few items in the United States on the small scale wind side. Assuming that the windings and other parts could be manufactured in the US, the majority of the RARE earth magnets are in China. Assuming the other production issues were resolved it appears the magnets would still have to be imported for the most part. So an issue exists that we just do not have the natural resources to an extent. To the customers that ask me is your product made in the USA I answer…NO but neither is the other guy’s, regardless of what they may say.
For me the current reality is that the best wind generators are made overseas. Ginlong for instance is one of the highest quality generator heads on the market, Unlike some who imports container loads of products into the US from China manufactured with the cheapest components. My buying strategy is this simple now. We try to purchase the product from Hong Kong not China. Secondly we buy products made with upgraded components bearing coatings etc. As a ardent patriot I am sickened by the reality of the state of the small wind generator market. I hope as wind power gains popularity US companies will get the picture. So to answer the question I have entitled this article: Wind power stimulating the US economy? Maybe on the commercial end but I hardly see how on the small wind generator market.
