Progress Report - Breamlea Windgenerator 19 August 1995 Wind and Power: Measured windspeed has been only 5.17 m/sec. average between 18 June and 8 August. Power output during that time was 12,980 kWh, worth $1038.40 at the current asking price. CitiPower has previously been invoiced for a total of $1049.02 since our restart date of 7th April 1995 Upcoming Milestone: The export energy meter is now on its second trip "around the clock" since 1987. Its first trip of 10,000 units represented 400,000 kWh. In about three months time it will reach a reading of 2500 units, or another 100,000 kWh. At that moment the wind generator will have contributed half a million kilowatt-hours of pollution-free electricity to the Victorian electricity grid, saving us all from an extra 700,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide. This event will be a good opportunity for some additional publicity. Data Logger: The "DataTaker" DT50 data logger has been collecting data very reliably for two months now. The power output data has been EXTREMELY inaccurate (see graph), but PowerCor metering staff have just wired outputs from their pulsed meter and this has been feeding into the logger since yesterday. They gave us a calibration figure of 0.625 wh/pulse for TWO pulsed outputs, but as we are only reading one, the factor will be 1.25 wh/pulse. This probably has to be multiplied by 40 just like the readings on the meter, to get the correct result. This will become obvious when we next check the data logger and the visual meter readings. Remote data transfers: The Telix script files, DOS batch files and pkzip file compression routines are reliably interrogating the logger and sending data to Michael Gunter in Melbourne every 4 days. Although the modem is only 2400 bps, we are getting an effective data transfer rate of 7200 bps because of the file compression. Four days data is transferred to Melbourne in about 25 seconds, thus keeping our phone bills down considerably. Michael and Adrian have a variety of data available. Michael can now send data files (zipped) via modem to interested parties, and even fax summary information in chart format. The computer & modem are on loan, but Adrian has replacements coming. Distribution Company Involvement: CitiPower. Their magazine "Connections" Issue 3 gave the wind generator 2 full pages of publicity including photos. Unfortunately the article was quite misleading, giving the impression that CitiPower was doing all the work, and even stating that CitiPower was responsible for putting up the wind generator in the very recent past. Invoicing and payment are proceeding on a regular basis. PowerCor. In recent weeks the metering staff in Geelong, Geoff Church and Kevin Lucas have been taking our "under volts" problem seriously, and arranged for the monitoring of red phase voltages by two separate chart recorders. Following a trouble-free month in July, serious problems of unscheduled windgenerator shutdowns have started again. Between 1 Aug and 9 Aug there were 4 outages with a total lost production time of 43 hrs 48 mins, during which time the average windspeed was 7.1 m/sec. WE'RE LOSING MONEY AGAIN! PowerCor have confirmed that their voltages were low at the time of our outages, but only down to about 20.7 kV. Additional work on our microprocessor by Michael on Friday 18 Aug. reveals that our calibration was not good AND there is a problem with the red phase sensor being used to supply DC power to the microprocessor. This design fault will be easily fixed by small circuit modifications. In the meantime, the voltage set points have been adjusted to allow operation down to about 180- 190 volts. PowerCor were also in attendance Friday morning and have installed NEW fusible links on the remaining two phases on their pole. Publicity: A promotional "flyer" has been faxed to libraries, secondary schools, surf lifesaving clubs and yacht clubs in the area, advertising our presence and inviting the public to our open days. A press release was faxed to major TV stations, regional radio stations and print media on 30 June. AAP was included. Michael was interviewed on ABC Regional Drivetime NSW on 25 July and again by ABC Victorian Regional Drivetime on 31 July.