5 DIY wind turbine projects to remember in 2023

2023 was the busiest year in PureSelfMade history.

I led over 12 Wind Turbine Hands-On Workshop Courses this year and some smaller projects, now celebrating the anniversary of my 50th full Wind Turbine Course since I started in 2013.

It makes me proud to see what we have accomplished in the mission of bringing more self sufficiency and freedom to the world. In this post I cover this year’s most remarkable Projects in retrospective.

We have built wind turbines in various group settings for various applications during the year.

In each of these projects the wind turbine was based on the Piggott Axial-Flux Design and entirely built on site by the course participants. This includes building a complete generator, the rotor blades, some metal work and additional electrics – all using simple handcrafting techniques and little to no high tech stuff.

Many of the wind turbines we built this year were installed right on site during the course – some connected to the grid and some to provide power to independent Off-Grid systems.

Each project was unique and special to me thanks to the great environments these workshops took place in.

Here are 5 Projects of the year 2023 that I remember fondly.  Click to see image galleries

Wind turbine course in Ochtrup, Germany

The year started with a classic wind turbine hands-on course in Ochtrup, Germany.
This workshop course was hosted at a private house. There were people attending from all over Germany who were keen on learning about the use of small wind turbines for energy production.

The goal was to later use the wind turbine in an AC-coupled setup to feed power to the building’s existing renewable energy system.

I have arrived a few days prior to the course to prepare the tower for the wind turbine together with our host Ulli.

During the course all parts of the wind turbine were built on site. We even tried some new design approaches and manufacturing techniques.

Since the whole project was organized privately in Ulli’s house, everything felt quite homely and cozy with group breakfast everyday and good talks – thats why I really enjoy this kind of projects.

By the end of the course the wind turbine was installed at the site with a long cable running to the house. We put the inverter and controls for the turbine into the basement for easy access.

Wind turbine courses at GEA Akademie, Austria

I started teaching wind turbine workshops at the GEA Akademie in Austria this year – A nice place for seminars of all kind that has great infrastructure and atmosphere.

Our courses at the GEA Akademie attracted great people and provided some valuable experiences and learnings for me as a course teacher as well. Friendships were made and knowledge was shared. There were people from various fields attending.

We built several wind turbines there during the year. One of them is set to be installed at the facility in the future. The other turbines will find a place somewhere as well, maybe at home with one of the course participants.

Based on the courses in 2023, I can already announce that PureSelfMade and GEA Akademie will extend the partnership in 2024.

Wind turbine course near Krems, Austria

A very special project was done in late summer near Krems, Austria. We built a wind turbine that would later provide power for a small off-grid hut in the mountains of beautiful Wachau region next to the Danube river.

The location is only reachable via a small and narrow road and the lovely place is owned by a group of friends. There was no electricity on site by the time we had our course since the off-grid system has not been fully upgraded.

Participants came from all over Austria and also one man from Romania joined the fun. We spent the entire duration on site which involved cooking and eating together and some relaxed nights by the fire with the crew.

The turbine was built entirely on site as usual. During this course we installed a tower as well. We used some larger buried anchors since the tower was taller than usual.

The turbine is DC-coupled to directly charge the battery storage system of the little hut. There is also a PV system and everything is based on common Victron equipment. The site is ideal for the turbine but wind turbulence depends on the current wind direction in the valley.

Wind turbine course at VEWA Luxembourg

This wind turbine DIY course in Luxembourg was a special one. Not only because of the unique and extraordinary workshops space I had the pleasure to teach in – also due to the fact that the wind turbine we built was mounted to the building structure, something we usually never do.

There were folks from all around Europe who came to the course. We built the usual upgraded 2.2F wind turbine model.

A special tower has been provided by the local municipal authorities. The tower is mounted to the side of the building. We had to use a little cherry picker platform to access the tower top for mounting the turbine.

We usually don’t install turbines on buildings for various reasons, most importantly the rather turbulent airstream around the structure. In this specific case the energy output of the turbine was not really a determining factor for the project. It is rather to be seen as a piece of art and for educational purposes. We will see how it performs on this site, maybe it works just fine and produces lots of power. The turbine is definitely an eye-catcher and help attracting visitors to the area.

The wind turbine is now connected to the local grid via a grid-tie inverter. It helps to power the community workshop.

Wind turbine course in Fürstenwalde, Germany

This was another workshop course held at a private house, this time in the east of Germany near the Czech border. The hosts were friends who have attended another project course last year.

After the build the wind turbine was installed in the field behind the house at the end of the course. We used a little grid-tie inverter to connect it to the house and feed electricity to the existing system. A system might follow where surplus energy from the turbine that is not needed in the house will be used to heat hot water in the tank.

Here the turbine is sited particularly well as there is an open field and great wind especially during the winter. I am curious about the amount of energy it will produce in the coming years.

We built the upgraded 2.2F design. The tower has been previously manufactured by a small local steel fabrication shop.

With all these exciting projects in 2023 I am already looking forward to get busy next year with more Wind Turbine Courses and work on the upcoming Wind Turbine DIY Book which includes all the knowledge to build those wind turbines.

More great stuff is already on the line: We prepare to start selling material kits for your DIY Wind Turbine Project, there are some cool Merch T-Shirts incoming, but most importantly let’s never forget the mission:

“Enhance Self-Sufficiency and creativity through practical knowledge & experience.”

All photos © Jonathan Schreiber, pureselfmade.com