Ireland Welcomes ‘Fluxy’ Wind Turbine

Four years in the making, Kingston Renewable Energy is delighted to announce the completion and availability of the Fluxy – a fully-mechanical wind turbine that consists of a simple yet modern design, capable of withstanding both turbulent Irish winds and the test of time.

Originally deterred by the highprices of mass manufactured,electronically controlled homebasedwind turbines, RichardKingston, owner and creator of theFluxy, decided to pursue the pathof crafting his own turbine that hefelt could out-do what the markethad to offer as far as quality,pricing and durability goes. The Kingstons sold their familyhome and invested in thebusiness, as they believed in thevision to create a machine thatwould offer customers aneconomic investment, a benefit tothe environment, and also act as adesign piece that people are proudto have flying in their grounds. ‘‘Our turbine is based largely on anopen-source design, and it’sextremely simple,’’ he explained.‘‘Complexity in engineering is bestavoided, and keeping a system assimple as possible increases bothreliability and longevity.” “We wanted to create a betterquality, better value, more durableand prettier turbine than existingmarket offerings. The Fluxy wascreated in response to the highprice and utilitarian look of massmanufactured, electronicallycontrolled home-based windturbines.” He added: “Our turbine is largelybased on an open-source designand it’s extremely simple like someof the most effective engineeringdesigns; this increases reliabilityand longevity. Maintenance issimplified and made safer by atower that folds to the groundrather than having to be climbed.” The Fluxy is geared towards thestand-alone dwellings or smallbusinesses in rural locations thatcan profit from its ability togenerate energy from the region’swindy conditions. Gaining interest from the Irish andBritish markets, the Fluxy turbinecosts about €26,000 (includingVAT) and can produce between6,000 and 13,000 units of powerper year – while the typical Irishrural home requires about 6,000 to8,000 units. Although the Fluxy can deliver onthe premise of remaining anenvironmentally-friendly product, itis also able to convey an aestheticappeal with its timber blades,natural colour schemes that blendseamlessly with the outdoorenvironments, as well as uphold astatuesque-feel to the structure. Fluxy turbines consist of a grid-tiedturbine incorporating the latest instate-of-the-art inverter technology.The blade span is 5.5 meters indiameter and the custom-madehydraulic monopole towers raisethe turbine to reach 13 meters(domestic limit) or 20 meters. The Fluxy uses a recycled plastictail vane and recycled materialsare employed as much as possiblewhere they have no impact onsafety or longevity. The gravityfurling tail allows the turbine to turnout of the wind to protect itself fromover-speeding in storm forcewinds. The energy from the unit isfed down the tower via slipringsand an armored cable takes this tothe pre-assembled inverter boardwhere it is processed anddispatched to the grid if not utilisedimmediately by the user.

This is as simple a design, from anengineering point of view, as it ispossible to make and Fluxy’sengineers have followed theprinciples of ‘Organic Design’throughout. The turbines arepurposely over-engineered forstrength and longevity and everyeffort has been made to avoid builtin obsolescence. The Fluxy is manufacturedentirely in Rathnew Co. Wicklowby KRE. For more informatio