Endurance E-3120 50 kW Wind Turbine

The Endurance E-3120 50 kW wind turbine is a good quality machine with an enviable track record of reliability and delivering high energy yields. It has a large 19.2 metre diameter rotor which means it can capture more wind and generate more energy than comparable turbines. This makes it an ideal choice for landowners and farmers who want a decent-sized wind turbine without going all of the way to a ‘wind farm’ sized turbine.

Click on one of the links below for more information:

• Key Advantages of the Endurance E-3120 Wind Turbine
• Whats makes a good site for an Endurance E-3120?
• Endurance E-3120 Physical Characteristics
• Endurance E-3120 Performance & Revenue
• Could a suitable site be leased to an investor?
• I'm interested - what's the next step?
• Free Endurance E-3120 Wind Turbine Desktop Study
• Site Survey & Feasibility Report
• Endurance E-3120 Planning Services
• Grid Connection Permission
• Project Management & Installation
• Operation & Maintenance Services

The key advantages of the Endurance E-3120 Wind Turbine are:

• Relatively straightforward planning application due to smaller rotor diameter and lower tower heights compared to ‘wind farm scale’ turbines.
• More straightforward grid connection, and in many cases can connect through the site’s existing three-phase distribution board.
• Easier access for delivery vehicles and the crane during installation. The turbine, blades and tower sections are delivered on a normal 40-foot articulated lorry.
• Quietness. The Endurance E-3120 is a very quiet wind turbine which means it can be located relatively close to residential properties (180 metres away for non-owned properties and as close as 50 metres for the owners house).
• Comprehensive 5-year manufacturer’s parts and labour warranty.
• Fully internet-connected for remote monitoring both by you and the manufacturer. Failures or anomalies that could lead to downtime are reported back to your maintenance service provider (normally us) for a rapid response to minimise potential downtime.
• A great looking turbine – it might be more subjective, but the Endurance E-3120 is a great looking turbine that you can be proud of. Much nicer than some of the older design twin-bladed competition!

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What makes a good site for an Endurance E-3120 wind turbine?

The key things you need for a successful project are:

• Wind. It sounds obvious, but you need a reasonably exposed site in a windy area. Generally higher ground is better, and it is best to be on the top of hills. Flatter areas can still be good provided there are no obstructions nearby.
• Proximity to residential properties. Although the Endurance E-3120 is a very quiet wind turbine, it still makes a noise that under certain conditions could be heard. Provided the turbine is at least 180 metres from non-owned residential buildings this should be OK.
• Grid connection. You will need a three-phase electrical supply and be reasonably close to an 11 kV transformer / substation. If you don’t have three-phase you would need 11 kV three-phase lines close to the site so that the grid-upgrade costs would be reasonable.
• Access. The turbine is delivered on a standard 40-foot articulated lorry. The lorry needs to be able to get access, so no very sharp corners or weight restrictions on the route to the site.
• Turbulence is bad, so best to be at least 200 metres from tall trees or buildings, and not in particularly tight valleys or close to cliff edges / adjacent to steep hills, which all cause turbulence that can damage the turbine over time.
• Not essential but will simplify planning, it is good to be outside of areas with special landscape or ecological designations (such as AONB, SSSI, SAC etc.).

All of these things are checked as part of our Free Desktop Study (see below).

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Endurance E-3120 Physical characteristics

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Endurance E-3120 Performance and Revenue

There are all sorts of permutations that could apply here, but to keep things simple and realistic the example below assumes:

• 95% availability of the wind turbine (i.e. allowing it to be shut-down for maintenance for 18 days per year).
• The Feed-in Tariff is 25.3 p/kWh, export price 3.1 p/kWh and LEC value 0.485 p/kWh, giving a total value of electricity of 28.885 p/kWh. The value could be significantly more (up to 9 p/kWh) if you have large existing loads on-site that could consume a large proportion of the energy generated instead of exporting it.
• Typical annual costs have been assumed of £1,100 for insurance, £550 for business rates and £2,500 for routine maintenance.

The results below are shown for a range of average annual wind speeds from 5.5 m/s to 8.5 m/s. To put this into perspective, a 7 m/s ‘average’ wind speed would be the lowest that would normally be considered for a commercial wind farm and would be in an exposed location. Average wind speeds above 7 m/s would be exposed sites on the tops of hills or near the coasts. Average wind speeds below 7 m/s would be less exposed sites in flatter terrain and more likely to be inland. Sites with average wind speeds below 6 m/s are not normally considered viable for wind turbines, though they can still make sense if you can consume most of the energy on-site and are willing to accept a longer payback period.

You can clearly see what a good investment an Endurance 50 kW wind turbine can be, especially on a windier site. It would be an even better investment if the majority of the energy could be used onsite for existing loads, as is often the case at a working farm or industrial site.

The payback period above assumes a total project cost of £257k, which is for the 25 metre high tower option, and includes a budget of £7,620 for the feasibility study, planning consent and grid connection permission. If the taller 36.5 metre high tower used this is £25k extra, and any grid upgrades would be on top of this (if required).

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Could a suitable site be leased to an investor?

If you do not want to fund the project yourself you could lease the site to an investor, and in return take a percentage of the gross annual income. Investors would only consider sites with annual average wind speeds of 7 m/s or above (some may accept 6.5 m/s) and will generally offer 10% of the gross annual income to the landowner. For a site with an annual average wind speed of 7 m/s this equates to an annual income of £6,309. If you would prefer leasing the site we work with several investment companies who invest in many wind wind turbine sites through Renewables First, so will be quickly able to sort something out.

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I’m interested – what’s the next step?

If you think an Endurance E-3120 50 kW wind turbine is the right choice for your site we have a set of services designed to deliver your project in the shortest possible timeframe.

1. Free Endurance E-3120 Wind Turbine Desktop Survey

This is an initial check that your site could be suitable for a 50 kW wind turbine and focuses on the estimated wind speed, proximity to residential properties (relevant for noise / planning constraints), environmental / ecological sensitivities, grid connection and site access.

The results are summarised in a brief report including our recommended next steps and emailed back to you, normally within a week.

2. Site Survey & Feasibility Report

From this point forward we have to charge for our services. The Endurance E-3120 Site Survey & Feasibility Report is a version of our standard large-wind feasibility study service but slimmed down to be more appropriate for a 50 kW wind turbine. The scope is described in detail here and this is broadly followed for the Endurance E-3120 version of the feasibility study.

The cost for this service is £2,000 + travel costs + vat. The site survey and report are normally completed within one month of order.

3. Endurance E-3120 Planning Services

Some customers want to handle the planning consent themselves, whereas others prefer us to take care of everything. To cater for this we can provide just a ‘planning pack’ to support your own application, or a full planning service.

If your application requires a ‘landscape and visual impact assessment’ (LVIA) we can provide this for a small extra charge. Any supporting ecological surveys (if required) are not included in the prices below.

a) Planning Pack

The Endurance E-3120 planning pack contains the supporting technical information that you would need to submit with your planning application, including:

• Site / location plan
• Turbine elevation drawings
• Zone of Theoretical Visibility (ZVI) map
• Photomontages from up to three locations
• Noise maps (theoretical) showing the turbine location and surrounding buildings
• Shadow-flicker plots

This is all of the specialist technical data you would need to support your planning application. The planning pack costs £2,000 + vat.

b) Planning Application Service

The full planning service includes everything in the planning pack, plus we prepare, submit and manage the application through the process. Note that this is not a guarantee of success, but it will ensure that you have the best chance of success.

The full planning application service costs £5,000 + vat.

c) Planning Application Service with LVIA

If the Local Authority requires a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) to be submitted with the planning application, we can provide this for an additional charge of £2,000 plus any travel costs if a second site visit is required.

4. Grid Connection Permission

You will need formal permission from the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) to grid connect an Endurance wind turbine. The forms and on-going discussions are quite complicated, so we recommend that we handle this process and charge £620 to take care of everything.

As part of the process, if any upgrades are required to the local grid the DNO would issue a formal quote for these works. We would check all DNO quotes to make sure they were reasonable.

5. Project Management & Installation

Once all of the consents are obtained the turbine would be ordered and the site prepared for installation. The preparation works include constructing the foundations for the wind turbine and laying the main cables back to the grid connection point, and making any changes to the on-site electrical distribution system so that it is ready to make best use of the generated electricity. Some sites require access upgrades to make sure the crane and delivery vehicles can get access to the site.

Normally these works are included in the price quoted for the wind turbine installation, and if there is any special work required at your site this would be defined in your quote. Renewables First are installers as well as consultants, so we can manage the whole installation process from start to end ensuring the minimum disruption during the installation phase.

6. On-going Operation & Maintenance Services

We can provide routine maintenance services and a call-out service for non-routine maintenance. As part of the standard maintenance package we would monitor the performance of the wind turbine remotely and schedule maintenance visits as required.

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