BajaNomad

Sauer Energy WindCharger(TM) Moving Forward in Mexico

Gypsy Jan - 6-6-2012 at 10:02 AM

NEWBURY PARK, CA, Jun 05, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Sauer Energy, Inc. June 5, 2012

"("SEI") /quotes/zigman/623220/quotes/nls/seny SENY 0.00% , a developer of the patented WindCharger(TM) vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) announced that their WindCharger(TM) system has been welcomed to the ENRCOM test site in Mexico along with the customized mounting system developed and provided by SEI to attach to the communication towers throughout Mexico. ENRCOM is in the process of creating its own training program in preparation of deployment of the many WindCharger(TM) systems required to maintain uninterrupted communications.

"ENRCOM has moved into field deployment. Following the expected successful results of the testing, the large scale utilization of the WindCharger(TM) will begin as they are used to generate and maintain power for communication towers throughout Mexico. It is our expectation that thousands of WindCharger(TM) turbines will become a familiar site atop towers across the country, keeping everyone connected," commented Dieter Sauer, CEO and President of SEI.

WindCharger(TM) system is the ideal solution for ENRCOM's need for an alternative that is an extremely cost-effective and independent power source for both rural and metropolitan areas. A greater need exists in off-grid locations. SEI expects that the WindCharger(TM) system's performance and versatility will make it an ideal solution for residential and small buildings all over Mexico as well.

Working closely with ENRCOM, SEI's design and engineering team developed and built a custom mounting system to specifically fit both the mono pole and the three-legged communication towers. They can be used by most communication towers universally. SEI can provide support for any unique requirements of high volume and special purpose clients.

The WindCharger(TM) system was designed for maximum efficiency wind capture. Installed at a height exceeding 100 feet, it should reach optimum performance and provide a rapid return of investment. The ability to withstand gusts up to 100 miles per hour and extreme conditions should validate the preferred choice of the WindCharger(TM) by communication companies to meet their requirements for providing cost-effective redundant backup power to help sustain the vital network links. The WindCharger(TM) system, in tandem with the solar panels and battery storage, can supply with confidence ample power to the communication infrastructure that everyone has become dependent upon."

About Sauer Energy

Sauer Energy is a technology developer and manufacturer focused on the emerging renewable energy market. We believe that because it requires few parts, SEI's technology, which provides a new direction for wind capture, will easily scale from residential to small community and up to large industrial scale. The market opportunity for a new, innovative technology is unlimited. SEI has created the WindCharger(TM) model to provide a better solution for the use of wind capture for residential or small building use.

The WindCharger(TM) is one of Sauer Energy's key innovation priorities. With several patents in place and many more pending, SEI is engaged in manufacturing and commercialization now, and plans to see a financial return on its investments. To learn more about Sauer Energy and this revolutionary wind turbine system, please visit: www.SauerEnergy.com

Sauer Energy... the future of energy!(TM)

Due to the recent acquisition of the assets of Helix Wind, SEI plans to be able to offer the Helix vertical axis wind turbine systems in the near future. They are specifically designed to be pole mounted and can respond to the demand for applications that do not require roof mounting.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. While these statements are made to convey Company progress, business opportunities and growth prospects, readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements represent management's opinion. Whereas management believes such representations to be true and accurate based on information and data available to the Company at this time, actual results may differ materially and are subject to risk and uncertainties. Factors that may cause actual results to differ include without limitation: dependence on key personnel and suppliers; SEI's ability to commercialize its wind turbine technology; ability to defend intellectual property; wind turbine material and component costs; competition; economic conditions; consumer demand and product acceptance, and availability of growth capital.

Additional considerations and risk factors are set forth in reports filed on Form 8-K and 10-K with the SEC and other filings. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon these forward-looking statements; historical information is not an indicator of future performance. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements.

DavidE - 6-6-2012 at 10:38 AM

Thank you for the link. I wonder if the systems will be 100% intertie. This means the turbines feed the grid and are paid for it, but go off-line when the grid happens to go down. meaning cellular service would still stop if the grid goes down. This act was definetly done to reduce Carlos Slim Helu's contributions to CFE and not from an altruistic standpoint. It is good for the environment however. Philippe Cousteau pioneered the mechanics of this technology on the research vessel Halcyon which I had the pleasure of visiting when it was in the gulf researching Humboldt Squid in the 1980's.

Just an Addendum to My Post

Gypsy Jan - 6-6-2012 at 10:42 AM

I am not involved in the company in any way and I do not know any of the people associated with it.

I am just passing the information along to Baja enthusiasts who might be interested and want to investigate this technology.

gnukid - 6-6-2012 at 11:19 AM

Oh great, you get wind turbines built up on towers 100 feet in the air, if you think you have problems with two story house blocking your view, imagine the view pollution from 100 foot towers for turbines along the coast that are considered on the average of about 16-18% efficienct, and require huge battery systems, controllers, and grid in addition to another back up source such as power generator.

A wind power turbine could make sense as a compliment to an existing off grid solar source, but I object to the 100 foot tower. There is nothing green or sustainable about these wind tower turbines. The cost is many more times the cost of traditional systems and the visual is horrible, the parts and maintenance will be another nightmare to service your 'tower'.

Really too bad to see things so convoluted and absurd when we need some clear common sense thinking on power.

For example, off grid users are well suited with a gas/diesel or natural gas generator as a main charging source, sun, hydro and hydro electric are secondary lower pollution sources, with much higher efficiency and reliability, lower cost and less pollution.

These 100 foot tower wind turbines are the highest cost and highest pollution with lowest efficiency. Typically other problems exist as well with the noise and the danger to animals, these 'new' products are supposed improvements, but they are not.

DavidE - 6-6-2012 at 11:25 AM

Hmmm. Reads to me that the torres are already there amigo. They are called cell and microwave towers. The CFE power is already in place. The wind turbine is to negate the energy consumption by the tower. TelMex owns the towers. TelMex pays CFE for energy the tower uses. Carlos Slim wants to pay less to CFE. Entiendes?

gnukid - 6-6-2012 at 12:26 PM

If the towers are in place with existing power sources, what would be the purpose of constructing wind turbines at the top, at an added cost and additional maintenance? Wind is not a consistent form of power. There is no cost savings, only added cost, added maintenance and added visual pollution.

Worse, if wind power is used for a portion of power, then the other source of power will be used intermittently, imagine the efficiency of two intermittent sources and the accompanying maintenance for starting and stopping power, balancing power versus 100% up time sources. The cost and maintenance is much higher for part time power sources running at 30-50% capacity.

The problem here is this proposed design clearly costs more, requires higher maintenance, is less efficient and defies financial and common sense. But it sounds great! And it will be highly profitable for the manufacturer and maintenance crew.

There are better solutions, this is at present the highest cost and highest maintenance possible for power.

Now if all we had was wind, and nothing else then it might be a worthwhile solution. But we don't even have reliable wind, even in the windiest places it is highly unreliable, costly and inefficient.

Now if you were using a windmill to haul up water from a well, that would be different, since the water could be stored in tanks once pumped to the surface, and wind would only be required for temporary periods. Its seems this fond memory of efficient wind mills for pumping wells is planted in the minds of some who translate this wonderful memory to the application of wind for 100% up time purposes integrated with the grid, which doesn't pan out as an efficient and effective use of resources. I wish it was, but it isn't.

Wind power could also be used to supplement existing 12 volt systems, but it fails tests of economy. I once saw a fellow who made home made windmills from car parts, attached to old alternators to power up stuff, which is a more sustainable approach, but he also pointed out that the power came in extreme bursts that is very hard to manage and therefore incredibly inefficient at peak bursts, and increasingly inefficient during lulls.

It's worth experimenting with to get a sense of how wind power works and it's possible applications.


[Edited on 6-6-2012 by gnukid]

jbcoug - 6-6-2012 at 01:01 PM

Kid,

For all your discussion, you have missed a major point. Gas, diesel, natural gas are all nonrenewable. When they run out or become too costly, they won't compliment anything. You are trying hard to maginfy the costs of wind while ignoring the cost of being fossil dependent when those fuels are gone. A little compromise in ones thinking goes a long ways.

John

DavidE - 6-6-2012 at 01:08 PM

If and when a person gets their first bimestral CFE bill with 1,000 kWh showing on it, they will instantly realize the attractiveness of wind, or solar, or geothermal.

gnukid - 6-6-2012 at 01:21 PM

This is a tough discussion for those who have lived their lives with propaganda that gas is in short supply, and is a fossil fuel that came from dinosaurs.

You may need to take a deep breath:



1) Gas, natural gas are being discovered in increasing amounts.

2) Gas natural gas reserves are growing at increasing amounts.

3) Now the big one, gas is not necessarily biotic, meaning it's not necessarily a fossil fuel. Oil is found deep in the ground where no fossils have ever been found and oil has been discovered with no biotic elements. Meaning oil can come from another source??? likely oil is in some cases a byproduct of the magma of the core of the earth and is not limited in supply yet is being continuing produced. Wells are often replenished after being pumped dry.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/on-energy/2011/09/14/abi...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck01KhuQYmE




4) Oil and natural gas is not the life killing pollutant that it's been made out to be, it is the among the revolutionizing and efficient sources of energy. In fact, the earth had much higher carbon parts per millions PPM in the past before we used oil for energy and many species failed to survive (in fact most species dies) before oil was used as fuel for energy. Farmers around the world inject carbon dioxide into their garden houses to increase CO2 from the present 350 ppm to much higher concentrations.

There is much to learn here, many scientific lies are taught in schools, enjoy taking the time to research the source of oil, define electricity, how is oil found where animals never existed? What is carbon? It's the basic element of life, its not a pollutant as one would be misled to believe.

Let's move beyond scientific baby talk and pursue the issue with common sense.

It was announced today that the USA has reduced its' carbon output nearly 8% since 2006 without any required reductions.

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/climatesnapshot/2012/...

We have many options to improve our current energy use, simply turn off light when not in use etc... and we can improve our fuels such as with hydrogen powered engines however, wind is not a efficient source of energy. Worse, the energy companies are not working to be efficient, they want to charge you more per KWH not less. There is nothing in cap and trade that requires companies to be more efficient, all the talk from the EPA and CARB for Cap and Trade will only make energy more expensive and create a financial tool for profit called the carbon markets.

It's a wonderful world out there, go out and engage to discover what is efficient energy.



[Edited on 6-6-2012 by gnukid]

taoswheat - 6-6-2012 at 02:31 PM

I don't have a dog in this fight, but I noticed a few things missing in the discussion. According to the manufacturer's web site, these units include an inverter and are designed to produce 120V AC for Grid Tie, so any power produced is either used in real time or dumped to the grid automatically. The noise spec is 34dBA which is very quiet compared to many wind machines and the vertical axis machine does not have high blade speed which reduces potential bird strikes. Wind is certainly not a total solution, but wind machines produce a lot more watts per $ cost than say solar photovoltaic. Grid tie sort of helps the problem of no storage since any unused power dumps directly to the grid and is used somewhere. A different question is whether such equipment is cost effective- that is another story.
In an off-grid location, wind and solar and batteries can provide all the modern conveniences at a significant but reasonable cost. If you don't have a power line, wind and or solar may be very competitive with a generator which requires hauling fuel and makes noise.
Just some thoughts.

DavidE - 6-6-2012 at 03:19 PM

gnukid, help me connect the dots here...

. Here we have gringo natural gas . Here we have a Mexican cell tower

Please if you would, connect the dots.

gnukid - 6-6-2012 at 03:57 PM

David,

Please make an argument to support your thesis or make an argument to prove another point wrong.

Your comments that high energy costs with 1000 KWH use are impetuous for more high energy costs with wind doesn't make a point to further your argument?


By the way, I do use wind and solar power for camping and sailing. I have practical experience in the field and I have spent time in wind farms too. They are not effective or efficient forms of power, high cost and not green.

I also cut my home use to under consistently 10 KWH per two months for more than a few years now, while still maintaining a luxurious lifestyle with fans, AC, computers, TV and plenty of lights, I just turn it off when not in use. I also follow Sauer and Makani Power closely, many friends work there and the founders are my friends as well.

They are moving forward but the applications are for HIGH COST energy applications where appropriate for example off grid where costs are not an issue, such as US military aggression in Africa.

Wind has it's place, as temporary, unreliable, high cost power when you are not near a grid, it's high cost and unreliability make it less than a wonderful candidate for green, sustainable power source. But it is enchanting.




[Edited on 6-6-2012 by gnukid]

Barry A. - 6-6-2012 at 04:29 PM

Gnukid-------------Sauer Energy (SENY) specializes in small installations of their verticle wind turbine such as at a home, or wharehouse, I understand. From what you know, do these applications make any sense?

Barry

DavidE - 6-6-2012 at 04:32 PM

Again, here we have natural gas....let's say in Texas.






And down here, we have a cell tower, that costs about twenty dollars an hour for microwave power. Look up CFE's tarifas comericiales sometime.

Is this not the OP's original, exclusive and dedicated subject line?

"customized mounting system developed and provided by SEI to attach to the communication towers throughout Mexico"

SCT, the Mexican government does pay for the power to the towers. Power is charged to the vendor, TelMex, TelCel, TelNor, etc.

So, how "should" torres de microondas be powered in Mexico?

gnukid - 6-6-2012 at 05:56 PM

David,

Let's not get too far off topic here, you are not making a point relevant to this discussion, but for the sake of discussion I'll try to respond: Your point about natural gas not being an option in Mexico versus gas or diesel isn't a valid criticism since Mexico must expert so much of it's unrefined fuels and import refined fuels. So natural gas costs versus other forms of traditional energy are not significantly higher.

Also, new methods of discovery and extraction are quickly finding natural gas in high quantities in Mexico.

http://www.naturalgasamericas.com/mexico-major-gas-discovery

Now back to our discussion at hand about the benefits of wind power... please.

gnukid - 6-6-2012 at 06:13 PM

Looking at sources of power for cell towers one might compare

cost per kilo watt
potential reduction in green house gases
long term availability of energy

gnukid - 6-6-2012 at 06:26 PM

Here are few recent reports about the cost of wind power and it's actual potential to reduce green house gases. I'm interested in opinions, enlightenment, ideas and comments to help those of us who might be thinking about using wind power for our homes and projects in Baja.

http://www.upi.com/Technology_News/2012/03/08/Wind-power-not...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/16/us-dutch-wind-idUS...

http://peswiki.com/energy/Directory:Cents_Per_Kilowatt-Hour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tedsVihIzAE

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/ib_11.htm

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/story-14388831-detail/stor...

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=21269

http://www.masterresource.org/2012/05/new-york-rps-problems/

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/41065

http://alleghenytreasures.com/glenn-schleede/wind-energy-hig...

Barry A. - 6-6-2012 at 08:36 PM

Gnu-------------Either you are ignoring my question, or you missed it. (4 or 5 posts above)

It was a serious question, and another poster above addressed this issue also.

Barry

DavidE - 6-6-2012 at 09:02 PM

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING, ONE WORD AT A TIME UNTIL THE PARAGRAPH STARTS TO MAKE SENSE...

""("SEI") /quotes/zigman/623220/quotes/nls/seny SENY 0.00% , a developer of the patented WindCharger(TM) vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) announced that their WindCharger(TM) system has been welcomed to the ENRCOM test site in Mexico along with the customized mounting system developed and provided by SEI to attach to the communication towers throughout Mexico. ENRCOM is in the process of creating its own training program in preparation of deployment of the many WindCharger(TM) systems required to maintain uninterrupted communications.

"ATTACH TO COMMUNICATION TOWERS"

"MAINTAIN UNINTERRUPTED COMMUNICATIONS"

This is the one, the only, the solitary subject matter. Not putting windmills on cactus to power cantinas, not putting windmills on '64 chevies to power street lights, not sticking windmills on the Pemex skyscraper to power computers.

Adding a source of power WHEN THE GRID GOES DOWN. Many local grids stay down for a week or even longer when there is an event like a hurricane, or a car crashes into a remote power pole and the crew cannot get to it because of something stupid like mud. Or the correct transformer cannot be found to replace the one that jumped off a pole in flames. Enough batteries to keep a system on line would cost a hundred thousand dollars or more. Many microondas are victims of sea air corrosion on a grid intertie entronque. Having a quadrillion Gigawatts of "utterly safe" 2 cent a cubic mile natural gas power available ten miles away is as useless as a square knothole.

Cell towers save lives every day when they are working, and lose lives every day when they aren't. Bomberos are summoned, as are doctors and ambulances, people call for help when their auto breaks down. Medicine, goods, gas is ordered via cell tower. FEWER THAN ONE FREAKIN' EIGHTH of the telephones in Mexico are land line and even they depend on microwave towers.

The subject of wind power to augment cellular tower reliability is closed.

Gracias A Dios

PS: I have been an advocate of natural gas for around 55 years, amigo. I was firing Babc-ck & Wilcox boilers with it back when LBJ was president.

[Edited on 6-7-2012 by DavidE]

gnukid - 6-6-2012 at 09:11 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Barry A.
Gnu-------------Either you are ignoring my question, or you missed it. (4 or 5 posts above)

It was a serious question, and another poster above addressed this issue also.

Barry


Is the energy cost reduction sufficient to make up for the added costs of wind power on top of a remote tower?

Or

Can you add reliability to cell phone towers when the grid goes down with wind power?

It's not possible for me to know the answer to the question about Sauer's new wind turbines without more current data about the specific application.

Please provide any more information you have, new information, new installations will provide more data.

It sounds great, projections are great, the models are great, but data from practical applications of Sauer's new turbines in cell towers 100 feet up is required to make a decision today.

My sense is this a promotional application.

If you evaluate current comparative market data from across the world USA, GB, Holland, etc..., there is not a good track record for cost effective application of wind turbine power in this case and the costs have proven to be much higher than predicted and it does not appear to be a GHG reducer. Wind power has been very unreliable and in some cases harmful.

Wind power is dangerous, the installation is 100 feet in the air and is costly and dangerous to install, pieces can fall off the installation to hurt people nearby, hums and power surges are common, fires can be started from moving parts as has recently occurred in other installations, it's costly to build, maintain and service. Wind power requires square footage which also increases costs and reduces it's benefit.

Wind power also is not at all reliable (wind is inconsistent) resulting in very low efficiency compared to other types of energy.

Wind power is not a green house gas reducer, nor it is a cost saver (based on current market applications - note links above).

Best advice today is run far away from wind power.

But if the product has no maintenance, lower manufacturing costs, and the grid is DC 12volt ready since solar has been used and it is connected to the AC grid and operating equipment then the power could be used and surplus energy at peak could be returned to the power grid, and the overall power requirement reduced and cost of energy reduced. But as a backup power supply it can only function when its windy and it is working which isn't much of a reliability improvement.




[Edited on 6-7-2012 by gnukid]

Barry A. - 6-6-2012 at 10:34 PM

Thanks, Gnu-----good info.

I was specifically referring to applications at a private home that is on the "grid". The idea being promoted by Sauer is that when it is windy (requires a min. of 3 mph wind) that you personal turbine contributes excess power to the 'grid' thus reversing the meter and lowering your overall cost of power. I was wondering if this concept actually pencils out?

By the way, I don't believe this application requires a "100 foot tower"-------my understanding is a mounting much less intrusive, like on the roof. At present, I believe they are taling about a cost of about $4K per installation. (I have been watching this Company as a possible investment, and am on their e-mail list)

Thanks again, Gnu.

Barry

gnukid - 6-6-2012 at 10:54 PM

If you have a flat rate power plan then the costs are the same per KWH and often quite low but if you are on a scaled plan that increases your costs up you could reduce the rate tier using an alternative power supply system like this device and the product could more quickly become beneficial.

Do the math, 4k initial cost, cost per controller and inverter to connect to the grid plus installation, maintenance and repair est 6k total.

How long would it take for you to break even from 6k cost savings in energy?

Sauer Turbine life expectancy is 20 years which is unlikely. Also I couldn't find detailed spec sheets for the turbine but I did find complaints that their estimates are based on perfect wold scenarios that are unachievable in practice, though I can't confirm this.

And consider the wind in your area and apply a theoretical approach to plot the costs and benefits on paper.

I'll add more as I find more detailed specs.



[Edited on 6-7-2012 by gnukid]

taoswheat - 6-7-2012 at 08:44 AM

If you live off grid and want a nice lifestyle, then the practical choices for power are a generator and or wind, solar, and batteries. The best choice is determined by individual circumstances.
If you are on grid and want to add solar or wind and sell it to the power company, it is less practical or logical. The Sauer web site shows about 1KW generated at 20mph wind and lists approximately $8K for the unit. If we assume the wind blows 20mph for half time, that gives 12kWh per day. My power cost is about 15 cents/kWh so the Sauer unit might pay (save) $1.80 per day or $657 per year. $8K/$657=12 years to break even. Why would one want to spend money on such an 'investment'?

Barry A. - 6-7-2012 at 09:41 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by taoswheat
If you live off grid and want a nice lifestyle, then the practical choices for power are a generator and or wind, solar, and batteries. The best choice is determined by individual circumstances.
If you are on grid and want to add solar or wind and sell it to the power company, it is less practical or logical. The Sauer web site shows about 1KW generated at 20mph wind and lists approximately $8K for the unit. If we assume the wind blows 20mph for half time, that gives 12kWh per day. My power cost is about 15 cents/kWh so the Sauer unit might pay (save) $1.80 per day or $657 per year. $8K/$657=12 years to break even. Why would one want to spend money on such an 'investment'?


Excellent points, by both you and Gnukid. Looks like a lousy investment to me. [the $8K is considerably more than I was led to believe (by Sauer), however]

Thanks.

Barry

taoswheat - 6-7-2012 at 07:08 PM

The $8K came from Sauer FAQ- Here is a link
http://sauerenergy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view...