Chicago, United States — Intertek announced the opening of an open air test site for small wind turbines. The test site in Otisco, New York, together with Intertek’s nearby Cortland lab, is the only wind testing facility in North America that is operated by an OSHA recognized Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory capable of providing small wind turbine system and electrical component certifications.
Intertek will test and certify small wind turbines for durability and performance according to the new AWEA 9.1 Small Wind Turbine Safety and Performance standard, and also the newly released Canadian standards such as CAN/CSA C61400-2, creating a ‘one stop shop’ for complete US and Canadian wind turbine testing and certification requirements.
The company will also test for manufacturers that wish to use other certification bodies, such as the Small Wind Certification Council (SWCC). Third party certification, including Intertek’s ETL Mark for the US, Canada and Europe, demonstrates the compliance to national and international safety standards.
The facility will support testing of several small wind turbines at the same time, from the smaller ‘micro’ turbines of a few hundred watts, up to the ‘largest’ small wind turbine of 200m² swept blade area – about 50-60 kilowatts in size. Using remote access monitoring, Intertek will generate 24/7 data to evaluate a range of real world environmental conditions, as required by the AWEA, Canadian and international wind turbine standards.
