Photo : D.R.
The renewed enthusiasm for all things green in the United States has provided a real boost to the small wind turbine market. Last year, 10,500 units (producing a total 17.3 MW) were installed across the country, representing a hike in sales in the sector of 78%. Experts are predicting annual growth of 30% per annum in the years 2009-2013. In many European countries, the potential of the market has yet to be fully exploited – according to estimates, there are only 300,000 wind turbines in France. This situation is the reason why Windeo was founded two years ago. A European small wind turbine company, Windeo provides an innovative range of units designed for private citizens, commercial companies, and local authorities. “Initially, we intend to develop in France this year before setting our sights on Belgium in January 2010”, says Loïc Péquignot, the firm’s Managing Director.
Windeo, whose European headquarters is located in Brussels, currently has ten employees. But plans are afoot to recruit around a hundred sales agents by June 2010 to work out of ten franchises in France. The list of three existing franchises (Dijon, Lille and Rennes) will be bolstered by the additions of Bayonne, Bordeaux, Caen, Grenoble, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, Paris and Toulouse.
In spite of the crisis, it seems that the sector has received a green light: small wind turbines are better designed, better integrated into the landscape, fit well with other sources of sustainable energy (geothermic energy, solar energy, photovoltaic energy), and benefit from tax breaks and the evolution of regulatory frameworks in the sector in a number of European countries.
Domestic wind turbines possess many advantages: they are no more than 12 m tall, power output varies between 1 and 20 kW, and they emit a negligible level of sound pollution (the noise created by the blades do not exceed 40 decibels, equivalent to the noise of a washing machine). Prices range from 15,000 to 50,000 euros per unit, with an average price of around 20,000 euros. Machines can last for a period of up to 30 years. The advantages are legion: ecological, fiscal (in France, tax breaks on a 20,000 euro wind turbine can be as high as 8,000 euros and subsidies for local authorities range from 1,000 to 2,000 euros), financial (selling on excess energy), and, last but not least, the joy of being energy independent. Not bad when one considers that an average family consumes 5,000 kWh per year and a 6kW wind turbine produces up
to 12,000 kWh in the same period.
For further details, visit www.windeo-planet.com
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