UNAVCO are pretty special as customers go.

Their aim is “to transform human understanding of the changing Earth by enabling the integration of innovative technologies, open geodetic observations and research working from pole to pole” – and to achieve this aim are funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Having deployed Pure Solar Light's Forgen wind turbine products in growing numbers for the last number of years to support the power needs of their work in some of the most inhospitable places on the planet, UNAVCO wrote to Pure Solar Light to say not only how much they liked the products but also how much they appreciated Pure Solar Light’s commitment to continuous improvement to meet customer needs. Their comments included:

• Construction – “substantially stronger.” Power - “Your new units are now putting out substantially more power”
• Price – “competitive and seems to be coming down.” “This is a surprise, considering all the improvements in output power and mechanical design over the years, but certainly a welcome surprise.”
• Quality - “Just keeps getting better.”

As a further example of how the Forgen branded vertical axis wind technology was contributing, UNAVCO wanted to share with us an anecdote concerning a continuous GPS installation at Minna Bluff, Antarctica, a location where they first started to install Forgen turbines back in 2007.

“This particular station has enough solar and battery capacity that it does not need wind power to operate through the polar winter, we just threw an extra Forgen turbine out there to see how it held up, knowing that this is a pretty rough site. The turbine survived well during winter 2012, and now that we have entered winter 2013, it is still producing power. Without wind power, our 12V lead-acid battery bank at Mina Bluff station would be around 12.5V this time of year. However with this turbine  the battery voltage is maintained between 13.0V and 13.5. Might not sound like much but it really is, considering we have 2000amp-hours of battery capacity here.”

For their part the Pure Solar Light team do know how important these things are, and that is why we work hard every year to bring UNAVCO and all our other great customers a more reliable, a more effective and a more competitive [better] product