The Rural Voice, 1980-11, Page 8Harnessing
the wind
Windpower is there, if we want to use it.
One local farmer is attempting to do just that.
BY SHEILA GUNBY
Twenty-eight year old Tony McQuail, a
Huron County farmer in West Wawnaosh
Township, is trying to be energy self-
sufficient on his 100 acre farm. He has a
small apple orchard, a dairy goat herd
and he raises Suffolk sheep. His Belgium
horses are used for farm work and he is
using wind power for his water and his
electrical needs.
Rural Voice conducted an interview
with him recently to ask him about his
wind generating projects.
R.V.: Tony, could you tell us about your
windmill, how long you've had it working
and how well it's functioning?
McQua l: We nave two windmills on our
farm. One is an old water pumping
windmill which we moved here oveP two
years ago. It pumps the water for our
house and barns and works very well. Our
second windmill is a 2 kilowatt wind
generator which we erected in December
1979 and we are having some mechanical
difficulty with it.
R.V.: Could you give me a description of
the kind of units you have on your farm?
McQuall: The water pumper is a Baker
mill on a 40 foot tower. The wind
generator has a 16 foot turbine wheel
with 48 blades which spins in the wind.
The movement of the turbine wheel is
transferred to a six-inch pulley on the
electrical generator which is mounted
below the wheel.
The mechanical problem we are having
is with the belt which does the transfer
from the wheel to the pulley.
The belts keep breaking and we are
now waiting for an slternative power
Tony McQuail has had some
mechanical difficulty with his wind
generator since he erected it in 1979.
The belt keeps breaking.
transfer system. The power coming from
the generator system is Direct Current
(D.C.). At our house there is a
"Synchronous Inverter" which turns the
D.C. power into Alternate Current A.C.
in the same phase as the power in the
Ontario Hydro system.
This allows us to mix our power with
that of Ontario Hydro. We don't need
storage batteries with this system.
R.V.: Is there a certain type of location
where the windmill functions best?
McQuall: A windmill works best in a
windy location! The area along the east
shore of Lake Huron has some of the
highest wind speeds in Ontario. Ob-
structions like trees and buildings
shouldn't be too close to the mill. The
higher the mill can be mounted the
better. Tall towers on mounting on a silo
can help get the mill up into the wind.
R.V.: Were there any problems getting
parts or materials?
McQuall: The water pumper 1 bought
from another farmer and Dawsons
Plumbing in Dungannon were able to
help with parts for the pump and advice.
R.V.: Would you mind giving an
approximation of cost, Tony?
McQuall: Approximate cost of this
system was S200.00. I purchased the
wind generator from a firm in British
Columbia for $4,000.00. I had to buy the
synchronous inverter from a firm in the
U.S. It cost 51,500.00 U.S. There were
some hassles with duty and tarriff
regulations.
R.V.: Could you give us an idea of the
output of the wind generator?
PG. 8 THE RURAL VOICE/NOVEMBER 1980