The Gonooble stand-alone power system combines a wind turbine and solar panels that charge the batteries, and an auto-start generator that fires up when required. All combined into a single compact, attractive unit.
Click Above To View The Gonooble Video
The Gonooble ~ Components
Batteries
Wind turbine
Solar panels
Generator
The beauty of the Gonooble is that it can be packaged to suit your
requirements.
Wind Turbine
Wind turbines vary in size and power output from 10 to 40 kilowatt-hours per day. As a guide, the average home requires about 25 units (25 kW/hours) per day.
Solar Panels
Photovoltaic solar panels, in various sizes, are fitted on the roof of the Gonooble. These panels charge the batteries during the day.
Batteries
Generated energy is stored in the battery system, then converted to electricity
when needed. Batteries can be configured from 24 to 480 V DC, depending
on your requirements.
Generator
The generator is diesel-driven, but can also run on LPG. Whenever power
is low due to a lack of wind or sun, the generator automatically fires
up to support the system and charge the batteries.
Aesthetics
You can choose how you want your Gonooble to look. We can make it correspond with the aesthetics of your house, bach, hotel, motel, resort, or whatever.
Gonooble Battery Bank
Gonooble ~ Media Coverage
Figs Spark Power Scheme Idea by Karen Clark, The Nelson Mail, 31 January 2004.
An alternative power system sparked by a fig-growing venture in Portugal is now starting to bear fruit in Nelson.
South Africans Nick and Carolyn Tones have just started selling a
stand-alone energy system, after settling in Nelson 18 months ago.
The system, nicknamed the Gonooble, harnesses wind and solar energy to produce electricity.
It can be configured to suit different sized homes and businesses, with the biggest system capable of supplying electricity to up to 50 homes. The Tones got the idea for the Gonooble after moving to Portugal more than a decade ago and deciding to grow fig trees on a remote property.
The huge cost of hooking up to the national electricity grid prompted them to devise a solar energy-based power system, to supply the home and irrigation equipment. The system attracted a lot of interest, so they refined it and started marketing it.
Mr Tones said they believed the system had similar potential in New Zealand, and had set up a company last year to market it, called Genkit Nelson. They built a mobile demonstration model which they carted around the country, and so far they had sold six systems and had orders for nine more, from buyers nationwide, he said. They were also exploring opportunities in the Pacific Islands.
The system works by using a wind turbine and solar panels to charge up a battery bank. Mr Tones said a system capable of powering an average home cost about $60,000, but multiple home packages cost less per home.
The cost compared favourably with the cost of hooking up to the national electricity network for places more than 3km from a supply point, he said. The system could be installed either as a separate, stand-alone unit or incorporated into existing buildings. He said it could also include other forms of energy generation, such as a
micro hydro scheme, where appropriate.
He said in future there could be potential for any surplus electricity created by a Gonooble to be sold to the national grid, although there was no provision for that yet.
