City of Yachats announces plans to purchase EiP machines
March 1, 2017
BY GLORIA TUCKER
Of the News-Times
YACHATS — Experimenting in alternative energy, the city will place two Electronic Inertial Power (EiP) wind turbines on its sewer plant.
Brothers Steve and Brad Burkle, who founded their company EiP Technologies in 2009 in Yachats, developed the wind turbines.
An EiP unit, at 8 feet wide and 6 feet high, is mounted on four legs and meant for rooftops. It generates up to 50 kilowatts of power without noise and vibration, according to the company’s website. “One EiP produces power, and two together produce power storage,” co-founder Brad Burkle said. “Using the patented EiP oscillation, excess energy and rotor inertia, energy recirculates between networked machines to create steady and reliable power.”
An EiP unit converts random rooftop winds from any direction to smooth and steady wind flow for the rotor inside and can withstand 90 mph winds, according to the company’s website. The unit’s center is hollow, which allows any turbulence emerging from rotor blades during power generation to exit top and bottom without disturbing inner wind fl ow. EiP technology puts the wind rotor in the center of a permanent magnet brushless generator, converting power directly from the wind blades. Rotor magnets near the outer edge pass between stationary steel core inductors above and below, allowing rotating magnetic fields to drive power generation at high speed while the rotor spins slowly with high torque. In addition, EiP wind machines can connect to rooftop solar panels to capture, store and share renewable energy.
City Councilman Greg Scott suggested the municipality invest in two of the machines in order to make Yachats a model of the concept for the world. “There could be a considerable amount of world interest in Yachats as a result of this project coming to fruition,” Scott said. “The city sewer plant would be the logical place to put one or two of these units. That’s one area that uses a lot of electricity.” So far, an EiP unit is installed at Steve Burkle’s house.
Another one is to be installed at Yachats Brewing and Farmstore. “The prototype has been operating since three years ago,” Brad Burkle said. “We’ll finish building the one for Yachats Brewing within the month and place it on their roof in the summer.” While the time for installation on the sewer plant is still up in the air, the cost for each unit is roughly $100,000. “Part of the cost can be handled through grant applications,” Scott said. “There is a lot of money out there for alternative energy.” The city council agreed and included the project as part of future capital improvement project plans based on available grant funding at its March 1 meeting. “This is part of our council goals under seventh generation thinking,” City Councilman Max Glenn added.