The present document is a maintenance manual for “Piggott“ based designed small wind turbines (SWT), developed by WindEmpowerment (WE) association (www.windempowerment.org). Founded in Senegal in 2011, WindEmpowerment is involved in the development of locally manufactured small wind turbines for sustainable rural electrification around the world.

Wind turbines are a fascinating way to produce electricity and increase energy autonomy. On a good site you can produce most of your needs with the fruits of your endeavours. Many wind turbines inspired and based on a concept developed by Hugh Piggott have been manufactured all around the world. Whilst most of the turbines built according to these specifications performed well initially, many broke down after some time due to a lack of appropriate maintenance. This is a particular problem for WE-members who implement electrification projects in remote areas of developing countries, where local technical capacity to perform repairs is low and travelling times out to installation sites are particularly long.