Windflow Technology was a company based in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand, known for its unique

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

gearbox design and two-bladed turbines. Founded in 2000 the company was listed on the

New Zealand Stock Exchange New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies. , the NZX had a total of 179 listed securiti ...

in 2003. In October 2008,

Mighty River Power Mercury NZ Limited is a New Zealand electricity generation and multi-product utility retailer of electricity, gas, broadband and mobile telephone services. All the company's electricity generation is Renewable energy, renewable. Mercury has a p ...

purchased a 19.95% share of Windflow Technology. However the company delisted in November 2018 due to its uncertain future.

History

The operation of a Windflow Technology turbine installed at Gebbies Pass near Christchurch encountered opposition from local residents who raised concerns about noise. The neighbouring valley was very sheltered, and therefore had very little background sound. Because of this, Windflow offered to comply with low sound levels of 30 dBA, 10 dBA lower than the District Council's usual requirement of 40 dBA. However, sound levels were at 35 dBA, so Windflow modified the gearbox, which reduced the turbine's sound. Sound levels were again measured and this time they were within the requirement of its

resource consent A resource consent is the authorisation given to certain activities or uses of natural and physical resources required under the New Zealand Resource Management Act (the "RMA"). Some activities may either be specifically authorised by the RMA or ...

. The turbine was dismantled in 2016. Windflow Technology set up New Zealand Windfarms to own and run the Te Rere Hau Wind Farm near

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; , colloquially known as Palmerston or Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatū Plains, the city is near the north bank of the Manaw ...

. Initially, this was wholly owned but was sold off. Windflow Technology supplied 97 turbines for this wind farm It was also contracted to supply turbines for Mighty River Power's proposed Long Gully Wind Farm but Mighty River pulled out of the project. The company achieved ISO 9001:2000 certification for the design and production of its Windflow 500 wind turbine in 2008. In September 2010, the Windflow 500 gained Class 1A of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) design standard IEC 61400-1 (edition 3) through

Lloyd's Register Lloyd's Register Group Limited, trading as Lloyd's Register (LR), is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research ...

. Although Windflow Technology signed a contract to install a Windflow 500 turbine on the island of Shetland in September 2011 it was not until 2012 that they announced their first export of their technology for a turbine on

Westray Westray (, ) is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, with a usual resident population of just under 600 people. Its main village is Pierowall, with a heritage centre, the 15th-century Lady Kirk church and pedestrian ferry service to nearby ...

, Orkney. The expansion into the UK was encouraged by the UK government's "

feed-in tariff A feed-in tariff (FIT, FiT, standard offer contract,Couture, T., Cory, K., Kreycik, C., Williams, E., (2010)Policymaker's Guide to Feed-in Tariff Policy Design National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy advanced renewable tariff, ...

". The company was to install eight turbines in Scotland. In February 2013, Windflow's first exported turbine (a 500 kW turbine) was installed at Hammer Farm on Westray. One turbine was erected at New Holland Farm on the Orkney mainland. On Harris in the Outer Hebrides the North Harris Trust worked with Windflow Technology Ltd to install their two-bladed machines that can deal with the turbulent wind conditions found amongst the North Harris hills. Three turbines were installed at Monan in 2014–2015. Another turbine was installed at Ludenhill on Orkney, one at Easter Aberchalder, near

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

, and one north of Edinburgh. From March 2020 the UK turbines were maintained by Constantine Wind Energy. In March 2012, the company signed a licensing agreement with a subsidiary of large US company General Dynamics (GD Satcom) to manufacture and sell the Windflow designed 500 kW turbines to customers in North and South America, Africa and U.S. territories and military bases worldwide. In May 2015, Windflow Technology Ltd announced the installation and first operation of the prototype 45-500 wind turbine at a site in Mitchell County, Texas USA. The turbine was installed to supply power for the Mitchell County Desalination Plant, which will supplement water supplies to areas in the County not covered by municipal water utilities. Windflow went into voluntary liquidation in December 2019.

References

External links

Windflow Technology Ltd
Accessed at Wayback Machine {{Wind power Companies based in Christchurch Companies listed on the New Zealand Exchange Manufacturing companies of New Zealand Wind power in New Zealand Wind turbine manufacturers Renewable energy technology companies New Zealand brands Defunct energy companies of New Zealand Renewable energy companies of New Zealand Renewable resource companies established in 2000 Renewable resource companies disestablished in 2018 New Zealand companies established in 2000

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links