Cleanfield Energy was an erstwhile Hamilton, Ontario manufacturer of small, fixed-blade, Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs). I hadn’t written much about them publicly until I edited my private notes for a section on them in my new book Wind Energy for the Rest of Us. As seen in the extract from my book below, I did not think highly of them or their product. They lasted longer than most flash-in-the-pan VAWT promoters, but eventually they too went defunct, stiffing turbines owners, investors, and vendors. One vendor said they installed some 70 turbines mostly in Canada. I have not verified that.
I thought the matter was dead until one of Cleanfield’s suppliers contacted me. Despite Cleanfield’s demise, the vendor remained a die-hard VAWT advocate. This becomes almost religious to some. For that reason I am posting some links and documents on the company for those who need another case study of hubris and hustle in the small VAWT sweepstakes.
Cleanfield made a big media splash in Ontario, Canada during the mid-2000s with its claim of producing a new wind turbine suited for mounting on buildings. [more]
There’s no better example of ignorance, hype, and hubris by people with more money at their disposal than their knowledge of energy when the government of Ontario funded Cleanfield Energy, a small...[more]
News account on the bankruptcy of Cleanfield Energy. Cleanfield defaults on CAD-1.5m loan over board approved liquidation[more]
Press release claiming that Cleanfield was installing its VAWTs on rooftops "around the world." The press release implies Cleanfield's association with McMaster University and Ontario's Centres of...[more]
Article claiming that McMaster improved the VAWTs performance 50% based on wind tunnel tests, according to Dr. Stephen Tullis, leader of the research project and Assistant Professor at McMaster.[more]
Press release using a common ploy to confuse amateurs by announcing UL certification. UL only certifies electrical performance not whether the wind turbine will work as a wind turbine or work well at...[more]
Presentation at the CanWEA conference i 2007 by S. Tullis at McMaster University.[more]
Product brochure by a British company for Cleanfield's 3.5 kW VAWT shown on an unusual monopole tower. To my knowledge the Cleanfield turbine was never certified under the British FIT program. This...[more]
Two videos of Cleanfield VAWTs spinning. The first shows two of its small VAWT on the roof of a what looks like a school in Ontario, Canada. The second shows a group of five turbines at an airport in...[more]
Press release touting the hiring of an engineer from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario as a specialist in wind energy in urban areas.[more]
Cleanfield’s first prototype small-scale Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) has been tested in the wind tunnel at National Resources Canada’s laboratory in Ottawa.[more]
Presentation by Stephen Tullis, McMaster University.[more]
In this presentation, Stephen Tullis of McMaster University calls attempts to use Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines in urban environments "promising," but notes they are too new to conclude much.[more]
Another technical article by S. Tullis on what was the Cleanfield 3.5 kW VAWT.[more]
Another research paper by S. Tullis and his students at McMaster Univeristy. The paper acknowledges funding from the Ontario Centres of Excellence and Cleanfield Energy.[more]
Technical paper by S. Tullis and his students at McMaster University examining the wind flow around and over buildings. The work was funded by the Ontario's Centres of Excellence.[more]
Performance testing of the Cleanfield VAWT in the 9 m NRC wind tunnel. The test results showed nothing unusual and because they were performed in a wind tunnel are not considered comparable to real...[more]
Another version of the paper by S. Tullis and his students at McMaster University on the wind tunnel tests of Cleanfield's 3.5 kW VAWT.[more]
This is an exchange on a message board by a student engineer at McMaster University displaying the VAWT they had developed and installed on a rooftop of the campus in Hamilton, Ontario. This VAWT...[more]
News item from McMaster University's student newspaper announcing the development of a Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine.[more]
