Truth About Skystream & SWWP

Hello,

This is my first post. I am a former longtime Southwest Windpower employee. I worked there for 10 years. I was recently laid off by Southwest Windpower along with 13 other loyal employees and, knowing them as well as I do, know that they will not be bringing us back.

Therefore, I feel compelled to tell the truth about Skystream and, especially, Southwest Windpower. The truth is, Southwest Windpower has not truly been about reliable renewable energy ever since the new investors took over and Frank Greco became CEO. Granted, the Air 303 was unreliable due to the potted circuit without a heat sink. And the Air 403 was loud as hell. The early 403s had a circuit reliability problem. I know, because I am the guy who discovered it to be the triac pads. The Air-X had teething problems, too. Let's not even get into the fact that the Air Marine powdercoat lifespan was measured in weeks before it began flaking and peeling. Then we had the Air Marine blade disintegration issue.

We thought when the investors came on and we got a CEO, that everything would be great. Money for product improvements, and so forth. The investors probably don't know how their money has been spent the last few years. But I can assure you quite a bit has been wasted. We were told that with Skystream (it was called Storm back in the beginning), we were "going to do it right this time". Well, not long into the release of Skystream, the old-school employees there realized that, once again, we were decidedly NOT "going to do it right this time". To begin with, problems cropped up with Skystream right from the beginning. These were not discovered in the beta-testing because only a few months of beta-testing were done. By far, most of the testing was done at founder David Calley's house out in Cosnino. You see, this is why the "cold weather problem" never showed up in beta-testing----because the thing was never actually beta-tested in winter. But, you need to understand something. The job never was to actually ensure a reliable turbine. The main job was to do an IPO and take the company public so the investors could garner their profit. Skystreams were sent out the door that should not have. This still goes on, from what I hear.

From its launch, Skystream had serious problems. The engineers couldn't figure out what was going on. One of these problems, though not apparant to the owners, is that Skystream is not in compliance with FCC regulations regarding EMI interference. Southwest Windpower has shipped Skystreams anyway. Other problems are related to failures of the internal inverter and boards. Now, you would think that Southwest Windpower would have learned its lesson about putting the electronics inside the turbine from their experience with the Air series. But, they took it one step further with Skystream: They put the inverter inside it also!

Now, in the beginning, Paul Gipe correctly identified a major flaw with Skystream. It has no mechanical brake. The overspeed protection is strictly electronic. Kind of scary with a blade span such as that on Skystream. Southwest Windpower assured everyone it was almost fail-safe and dismissed Paul's concerns as they always do. Except Paul Gipe was right. Due to hardware, part, and engineering changes with Skystream that happen almost monthly, some of the hatchcover bolts were not snugged down tight in production. Rain would get inside the Skystream and short the electronic overspeed production, whose circuit was conveniently located in the bottom of the turbine where the water pooled. Some turbines "ran away" and the blades pretty much exploded. Exactly as Paul Gipe said it could. This is when Southwest Windpower sent out those notices to drill a "weep hole" in the bottom of the Skystream housing. But this didn't happen without a lot of "How is this going to look??!!" talk first, several meetings, and so on.

You see, the game plan was to hype Skystream, generate a bunch of interest, take the company public, and Frank Greco pops his golden parachute. Maybe if Southwest Windpower pumped as much money into actual beta-testing Skystream as they did in the marketing and PR, they would have a functional turbine. But that would first require a paradigm shift in the corporate thinking that goes on within Southwest Windpower. For one thing, none of the executive management at Southwest Windpower has any renewable energy experience. They were selected with the eye on "taking the company public". In fact, almost none of the managers had any previous renewable energy experience. Granted, that's not the be-all, end-all of qualifications. But you should at least have someone who knows what a wind turbine can and cannot do making the decisions. For example, you don't market the thing as a 1.8kw and then come back later with, "Gosh, it's really a 2.4kw...." when you learn it needs to be that for certain state incentive programs. You don't say it'll "spin your meter backwards" when anyone with a calculator can see it could take up to 25 years to pay for itself.

You'll see a lot of people saying, "Hey, I own one and it works great! It really does what they say and never has problems!" I can tell you that many of those people happen to be Southwest Windpower dealers. The fact is, there are a lot of very unhappy Skystream customers out there. The phone rings nonstop for Tech Support. I know because I've heard it. It can take several days for people to get a response at times due to the workload and number of cases. This is because the final verdict on Skystream is: SHIP PRODUCT. Period. No matter what, SHIP PRODUCT. Period. Might fail? Oh, well. Deal with it later.

And as far as the other wind turbines? The Air and Whisper? Well, all I can tell you is, buyer beware. I've seen what goes into them and where it all comes from. I wouldn't buy one at 1/4 the price. But, to be very honest, I wouldn't buy anyone's wind turbine. Too many companies run like Southwest Windpower. Fast buck first and damn the customer.

Some will say, well, you came on here and slammed Southwest Windpower. I was a loyal employee for 10 years. I gave them a month to do the right thing and bring back 14 loyal employees before I blew the whistle. They got $10 million dollars in new investment money and made it clear they're not hiring us back. They said so in the paper. They're taking that money to expand their operations in China. Hmmm......kind of like the companies Southwest used to slam for that same practice, eh? A couple days after they laid us off, they were advertising to hire ANOTHER manager on top of the several layers they already have. So, I am now officially blowing the whistle. Let me be the first to say that you should not even consider buying a Skystream. I've seen and heard. I was there. From the very beginning. So, I no longer owe this kind of company my continued loyalty or silence. Anyone here wants to ask questions, ask away. I know the truth. And I will share it.