An off the cuff story from co-founder Andy Kruse Read more »

By Andy Kruse

I am excited to share that Southwest Windpower has received GL Renewables Certification. We are the first U.S.-based manufacturer of small wind turbines to receive this certification, which confirms that the design of our Skystream wind turbine complies with the requirements of international standard IEC 61400-2. Read more »

Despite the downturn in the economy and the struggle for many families and business to make ends meet, the price of energy doesn’t seem to take notice. Gas prices seem to rise as quickly as the summer temperature and electricity prices will only follow suit. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), residential electricity prices will rise by 2.3 percent in 2011 to an average of 11.84 cents per kilowatt-hour. Read more »

Southwest Windpower Co-Founder, Andy Kruse, shares his thoughts on the wind industry, government policy and current events in our series “From the Co-Founder."

For the second edition of my regular guest column on The Daily Energy Report, I discuss how consumers can make accurate assessments of personal wind turbine performance. As an industry, the performance of a distributed wind system is often evaluated by the power rating of the turbine – an instantaneous measurement – in kilowatts (kW). In most cases, however, the maximum power rating is not a useful figure for this purpose as it has very little to do with the amount of energy a system will produce in the winds at a consumer’s actual location. Read more »

Southwest Windpower Co-Founder, Andy Kruse, shares his thoughts on the wind industry, government policy and current events in our series “From the Co-Founder."

I was fortunate to attended the AWEA WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition in Anaheim, Calif., last week. I was interviewed by the AWEA team and was able to talk a little bit about Southwest Windpower and small wind's influence on the industry. In the video below you can view my comments, along with the insight of other industry influencers, including wind power advocate Ted Turner, Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, and Jimmy Glotfelty, executive vice president of Cleanline Energy Partners. Read more »

Southwest Windpower Co-Founder, Andy Kruse, shares his thoughts on the wind industry, government policy and current events in our series “From the Co-Founder".

People around the office often ask, “What country is Andy in today?” I do spend a lot of time in an airplane seat, making my way to another meeting aimed at expanding the opportunity of distributed scale wind, while also looking for a few orders to take home. No doubt this effort has raised the awareness that there is an opportunity for distributed scale renewables. But this one trip – to Iraq – takes the cake… Read more »

Southwest Windpower Co-Founder, Andy Kruse, shares his thoughts on the wind industry, government policy and current events in our series “From the Co-Founder".

Southwest Windpower recently received the Globe Sustainability Innovation Award, recognizing our economic, social and ecological innovations that contribute to developing a sustainable society. We were proud to accept the award last week at a ceremony, held during the Globe Forum Conference in Stockholm, Sweden. Dixon Thayer, CEO of Southwest Windpower, accepts the award in the short video below: Read more »

Southwest Windpower Co-Founder, Andy Kruse, shares his thoughts on the wind industry, government policy and current events in our series “From the Co-Founder".

I was recently honored to be selected to write a guest column on The Daily Energy Report every other month providing insight about the wind industry. My first submission discusses small wind turbine standards and certifications:

Small Wind Turbine Standards Increase Consumer Confidence

Andy Kruse, co-founder and vice president of business development at Southwest Windpower, participated in a panel entitled “Three Undiscovered Companies Leading the Green Movement,” as part of South by Southwest Interactive last month.

Other panelists included Ben Lack, chief conversationalist of The Daily Energy Report , Justin Miller, vice president of business development at Xnergy, and Ingrid Vanderveldt, CEO of Green Girl Energy.

See below for a video of the full panel and some of our key takeaways: Read more »