Power Systems

Wind Power

Windmills were originally used for grinding grain and pumping water. Currently, Wind Turbines are used for a variety of applications; the foremost being electricity generation.

All Wind Systems consist of a turbine and a tower. The taller the tower and the bigger the turbine, generally mean greater power generation. Winds spin an alternator inside the turbine. This alternator produces "wild" AC electricity. This electricity is then regulated to DC voltage, normally 48 volts or more. At this point, this power can be stored in a battery bank for later use or fed back to the Utility Grid by way of an inverter.

A Turbine is only as effective as its tower is tall. Tower height plays a major part in turbine performance. Towers are available in different configurations and heights. Some towers can be tilted up or down for easy maintenance and installation. Others are freestanding and need to be erected with a crane.

TerraTek can design, supply and install a Wind System in one of the following formats:

Off Grid

A Turbine charges a battery bank using a controller. An inverter converts that power into usable household electricity. Unique to Wind and Microhydro systems, when the battery bank is fully charged, the excess power that the turbine will continue to produce needs to be used by some form of a Dump Load. Common Dump Loads are heating elements for both water and / or air.

Grid Tie

A Turbine is connected to an inverter made specifically for wind turbine use. This inverter not only converts the power into household electricity, but also allows surplus electricity that is not used, to be fed back into the grid.

Grid Tie with Battery Backup

The same as above, but the inverter also uses electricity stored in a battery bank for backup situations where the power is out. Typically, a limited number of loads are run by this battery bank. These systems work well on the West Coast, as power outages typically occur when the wind is blowing.

Hybrid System

Typically, this type of system uses both Wind and Solar as power sources. By taking advantage of these two sources, this setup becomes a perfect fit for the Vancouver Island climate! Depending on your site, a variety of options are available.

Roof Mount Wind Turbines

TerraTek is a Distributor/Installer of the Swift Wind Turbine. It is an ultra quiet roof mounted system that is available in a Grid Tie format. It is meant to be mounted on larger structures to supplement electricity usage. The noise produced by these turbines is less than the noise of a quiet conversation.

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