The installations cover a spectrum of uses, from a domestic off-grid project in New South Wales, a rural property in Western Australia, a rural school in Victoria, as well as a 15 kilowatt (kW) grid connect model for a New South Wales council.

The Proven turbines, which in these projects have a power generation capacity of between 2.5 kW and 15 kW, have been installed in diverse climates in other parts of the world, generating electricity from the extreme cold of Antarctica to the desert heat of Saudi Arabia.

“These are key installations for us, as it means we now have a turbine installed on every continent on Earth. Proven Energy’s wind turbines are tested in the world’s most hostile weather regimes and for that reason we believe that the Australian market will be an exciting new challenge for us,” says Craig Jones of Proven Energy.

Conergy Australia Managing Director Rodger Meads says that since the company added the Proven range to its product portfolio last year, making it the exclusive distributor of these products in Australia and the Pacific Island region, there has been a tremendous amount of work going on behind the scenes to bring the first projects to fruition.

Solar, wind and hydro installer Trentleck was part of this behind the scenes team, installing an off-grid, combined wind and solar power project at a rural school in Victoria. In preparation for the installation, Trentleck Director Trent Mair went to the Proven Energy headquarters and production factory in Scotland to talk with their engineers and get a better insight into the product.

“This was an important step for us to ensure that we were 100 per cent happy with the product before we promoted it,” says Mr Mair.

After visiting Scotland, Mr Mair was convinced of the advantages of the Proven Energy design, the most significant being its higher output capacity compared with traditional turbine designs.

The patented Flexible Blade System enables the turbine to generate power in light or strong winds. The blades are able to bend and flex, so that, as the wind gets stronger, they twist to reduce their aerodynamic efficiency. This allows the turbines to keep a high output even in the fiercest storms, unlike many turbines which have to stop producing power to protect themselves in high wind speeds. The blades will also regulate their speed, preventing damage, should there be a disconnection of load from the turbine due to a power cut or electrical fault.

Designed to minimise noise and maintenance, the turbine has a direct drive generator, which operates without a gearbox. The generator load is continually monitored to keep blades rotating at a low speed, whilst optimising power output. The turbines have one of the lowest blade tip speeds of modern small turbines, minimising sound.

Proven Energy engineers also came from Scotland to conduct a one-day, onsite training exercise with Trentleck. In readiness for this training, the foundations had been prepared and set, and trenching had been completed two weeks prior. Involving theory and practical training, the team conducted a full installation of a 2.5 kW turbine on an 11 metre tower.

Trentleck says the other major advantage of the turbine is its advanced safety design.

“The engineers at Proven have made this a much safer unit, mainly due to the design of the blades. They have a double fail safe attachment to the main turbine head, which greatly reduces the risk of a blade coming free in case of an accident. Testing has demonstrated that the units will operate with only two of the three blades without causing any further damage to the unit – this is unique as most other turbines would blow to bits under these conditions,” says Mr Mair.

Conergy is looking forward to the opportunity to mix with all players in the clean energy sector at ATRAA 09, and is keen for the industry as a whole to be heard when it comes to policy discussions.