Bergey BWC XL.1 1000 watt

New model for 12, 24, 36, 48 volt battery charging

8.2 ft diameter Rotor, 5 year warranty

The Bergey BWC XL1 is an up-wind, horizontal-axis, three-bladed turbine. The blades are made of strong pultruded fiberglass with SH3045 airfoil. They attach directly to a specially designed very-low-speed permanent magnet alternator which uses state-of-the-art neodymium super-magnets. These units also have enhanced turbine corrosion protection for marine sites and increased durability.

The cut-in speed is 6 mph with a 1000 watt output at about 25 mph. 120 mph is the maximum design wind speed. Overspeed protection is provided by the proven BWC AutoFurl passive sideways furling system. The generator and rotor turn partially sideways to the wind starting at about 30 mph. 5 year warranty from Bergey Windpower Co.

 Box is 60" x 22" x 12". We have known Bergey since the late 1970's.

New 48 volt model is similar to previous 24 volt model with new benefits.

1 -Multi voltage American made charge controller Midnight Solar Classic 250 instead of the BWC PowerCenter controller, can charge anything from 12-48 Volt.

2 -New controller has a lot more headroom so users will see more power in high wind events. Users report greater monthly production.

3 -No rectifier on the machine – this has been moved to the base of the tower in a “stop / run” box which should help reliability.

4 -“stop / run” junction box at the base of the tower makes for convenient installation and servicing as you can short the unit via a switch at the base of the tower

5 -Enclosed slip ring assembly

Estimated kilowatt Hours per month for various average wind speeds

Bergey XL-1 for 12-24 volt battery charging.  
Has MidNite Solar Classic 250 charge controller and stop-run box with rectifier diodes.
XL1-48 Wind Generator  $4600  150 lbs  Special $4400
 

1800 watt, 24 volt, 60 amp Diversion Load Option. Connects to control box. Contains air heating resistors in a metal box. Recommended for high wind locations or for extra space heating. W066  20 lbs  $350

Start-up Wind Speed:  3 m/s (6.7 mph)
Cut-in Wind Speed:      2.5 m/s (5.6 mph)
Rated Wind Speed:      11 m/s (24.6 mph)
Rated Power:                 1000 Watts

Maximum Power:        ~ 2000 Watts
Cut-Out Wind Speed:  None
Furling Wind Speed:  13 m/s (29 mph)
Max. Design Wind Speed:  54 m/s (120 mph)

Blade Pitch Control:     None, Fixed Pitch
Overspeed Protection:  AutoFurl

    Replacement Parts

Blade Set           W060  20 lbs  $380    

Nose Cone          W061  5 lbs   $41

Brush Set           W064   3 lbs  $127

Brush Assembly with holder  W065  4 lbs $165
Tail Boom            W066   10 lbs  $96

Tilt-up Tubular Towers

                                                                              
60'   (18 meters)  1TU18   $2200    Special $2100      

Monthly Kilowatt Hours Energy Output
estimate for average wind speeds

Sample cost for 5 kW
and 80 ft. Guyed Lattice Tower

EXCEL 5 Wind Turbine    $21,995
80' Guyed Lattice Tower  $11,525
Tower Wiring Kit  $1495
Shipping & Delivery  $1800
Foundations  $3280
250' Wire Run  $2600
Electrical Contractor  $1375
Turbine Set-Up & Crane  $2000
Misc. Costs  $500
Building Permit  $500
Sales Tax  $2100
Total  $49,170
Actual cost will vary

  The EXCEL is a 7 meter (23 ft) diameter three-blade upwind turbine that achieves high reliability through rugged construction and a minimum of moving parts.

  The rotor on the EXCEL has three pultruded fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) blades which are rigidly attached at their hubs.  The EXCEL blades are flexible in torsion and have a unique pitch weight attached to their outboard leading edge.  The patented Powerflex® blade system provides passive blade pitching as a function of rotor speed.  Thus, the blades are set for a higher pitch to aid start-up, but “flatten out” at speed to improve operating aerodynamic efficiency.  The airfoil used on the EXCEL is a proprietary design (BW-3) developed specifically for low Reynolds Number conditions.  This thin, highly cambered section is not affected by normal dust and residue build-up on the blade leading edge.  BWC offers an Extra-Stiff Blade Option for high-turbulence or high icing conditions.  These blades are often painted black for ice-shedding.

The blades attach directly to the outside shell of the EXCEL’s purpose-built direct drive 38-pole permanent magnet (PM) alternator.  The alternator has an “inside-out” configuration in that the outer shell (containing the magnets) rotates about the fixed internal stator structure.  Thus, the alternator incorporates the rotor hub, has no central rotating shaft, puts the front bearing in the rotor plane,and has no brushes.  The output is a sinusoidal three-phase alternating current that varies in voltage and frequency with wind speed.

  The EXCEL wind turbine series is nominally rated at 10 kW.  In a battery charging  application, however, there is an inherent load matching problem between permanent magnet alternators and battery banks.  The EXCEL-R is optimized for low wind speed performance, which maximizes energy production.  But providing the best performance in low winds results in some reduction in peak power under high wind conditions.  Therefore, the EXCEL-R is rated at 7.5 kW.

  The turbine is aligned into the wind by a tail assembly.  The tail boom and and integrated rotor/alternator assembly attach to the mainframe assembly, which incorporates the yaw-axis slip-rings and the tower interface. The geometry of the mainframe creates the passive Autofurl® high wind speed protection.  The mainframe offsets the rotor and yaw axes such that rotor thrust produces a furling moment about the yaw-axis.  The weight and inclined pivot of the hinged tail provides a preset resistance to the rotor furling moment.  Overspeed control is initiated at 13-15 m/s (30-34 mph) when rotor thrust overcomes the tail resistance and restoration is caused by gravity as the wind speed subsides.  The EXCEL has no shut-down wind speed.  The turbine can be manually shut-down using a furling winch installed at the base of the tower.

  Corrosion protection for the EXCEL is provided by hot-dip galvanizing (mainframe, tower adapter, and tail boom), electro-zinc plating, and polyurethane paint systems.  FRP components, such as the blades, are protected by ultraviolet-inhibiting resin additives and sub-surface “scrim cloth” UV barrier.  The blades have polyurethane leading edge tape for protection against erosion.  The EXCEL’s four sealed bearings are provided with static drain brushes to protect against discharge pitting.  A Marine Corrosion Option is available which substitutes stainless steel hardware and provide full encapsulation of the stator windings.

  The EXCEL has only four moving parts, no adjustable elements, and no grease fittings.  No scheduled maintenance is required beyond biannual inspections and replacement of the outer three feet of blade leading edge tape every 4-5 years.  Static components of the EXCEL are designed for a 50 year life and dynamic components are designed for a 30 year life. Predicted major overhaul requirements include blade refinishing and alternator bearing replacement at 15 years or 225,000 kWh’s.

  The VCS-10 controller, which comes with the EXCEL-R wind turbine, provides controlled rectification through a three-phase semi-converter.  The semi-converter uses phase modulation to control charging voltage and current based upon the battery bank voltage.  Safe operation of the EXCEL turbine is independent of the load conditions, allowing the controller to unload the turbine during regulation.  No auxiliary load is required.  The VCS-10 is fully solid-state and is passively cooled.  It incorporates an LCD display of DC bus voltage and status lights to indicate the charging mode of the unit.

  Since its introduction in 1983 the EXCEL has distinguished itself as the one of the most reliable wind turbines ever produced.  The Wisconsin Power & Light SWECS test program, the largest of its kind (involving SWECS from UTRC (Windtech), Windworks, Jacobs, Enertech, and Carter), showed a 99.1% availability (9.0% higher than any other unit) and an O&M cost of $0.0026/kWh for the EXCEL over a five year test program.  This is less than half the O&M costs that have been typically  reported for grid-intertied photovoltaic systems (eg, PG&E test program). 

  Another utility, Pacific Power & Light, through its subsidiary OnSite Energy, installed leading remote wind turbine products (3 kW Northern Power Systems HR-3,  10 kW BWC EXCEL, and 17.5 kW Jacobs 10-23) on a telecommunications site at Duncan Mountain, Idaho in November, 1984 for the purposes of product and technology evaluation.  The site is very remote and accessible only by helicopter during the winter.  Since installation, over fourteen years now, the BWC EXCEL has achieved nearly 100% availability.  The next most reliable turbine in the PP&L test program had an 84% availability in the first five years.  The other turbines at the site have now been decommissioned and the EXCEL is providing prime power to the telecommunications facility.