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Remote Power &  Solar Water Pumping

Education   •   Industry Support    •    Since 1975
Founder, retired  –  Dankoff Solar Products, Inc.

Windy Dankoff's career combines his technical talents with a passion for environmental preservation. In 1977, he began a wind-electric and photovoltaic business in New Mexico, to electrify homes beyond the power lines. He has worked solely in the private sector, where systems had to be cost-effective. In 1983, he became one of the first manufacturers of solar powered water-well pumps. In 1997, Dankoff Solar Products became a worldwide wholesale distributor. He sold the company in 2005 to pursue writing and consulting. 

Windy has had over 40 magazine articles and book contributions published, covering photovoltaic applications, energy management, and solar water pumping. He has taught at schools, and advises other pioneering business owners and educators.

SPIN-OFFS from Dankoff Solar Products
Dankoff Solar Pumps division of Solar Power & Pump Co / SunRotor
Positive Energy Solar  <>  Conergy USA  <> Focused Energy <>  Sindelar Solar


Co-author, book IN PROGRESS:
The Solar Water Pumping Handbook
 with Robert Foster, Alma Cota, Eric Lespin
~  for publication in 2026 by CRC Press  ~

Abstract of the coming book
Advances in Solar Powered Water Pumping:
Providing for Energy Resiliency and Social Equity
Proceedings of the American Solar Energy Society National Conference, 2022
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-08786-8_3#citeas

SERVICES are listed on  NEXT PAGE

27 years in windy & solar industry

My field is remote-site (off-grid) photovoltaic (PV) power for homes and water supply, with early experience in wind power. My business started as a local service, then progressed into manufacturing and wholesale distribution. I attribute that progression to my roots in local service, retail sales, and tech support. I asses a client's situation with respect to a broad ecology of needs and potential. I call this whole-systems thinking.

I am gifted now by the contacts I maintain with fellow "pioneers" around the world. This network enhances my capacity as a consultant and educator.  I work as a free agent, with no financial ties in the industry.

Author of over 40 published articles

I have had over 40 magazine articles and book contributions published, concerning the practical details of off-grid home system design, operation and maintenance, energy management and efficiency, and solar water pumping. You can find them all over the internet. I have taught dozens of courses and workshops, and answered many “Ask The Experts” questions for Home Power Magazine.

For a list of articles and more, press the blue button:
PERSONAL STORY

Think back to the era of Vietnam war ... oil crisis ... acid rain … Military Industrial Complex, back-to-the-land ... 

I was blessed with a good start in life. My parents encouraged me to discover my unique abilities. I pursued technology with a passion. I started engineering school in 1970 but, unsure of my career path, I dropped out. I had to work for a cleaner, saner world. But how? As a wilderness traveler, I dreamed of living off-grid. In 1974, I found a magazine article about wind-electric power. When I studied its history, I knew this was what I was born to do.

There was no school for this. The wind-electric industry that began in the 1930's had died in 1957. I joined a network of techies and homesteaders who were reviving the old technology and together, we . I learned to rebuild and update the old wind systems. Could they meet the needs of modern people? To test my faith, I set up shop to sell it … The American Way!  And I did OK, as you can see in the pictures. I earned the professional title: Windy.

But the risk and stress of wind power work gave me bad dreams. When solar photovoltaics (PV) became available in 1980, I was anxious to eliminate the towers and moving parts. The simplicity of PV would free me to focus on whole-system design and end-use efficiency. I built a PV home system in an old school bus. It was my live-in laboratory with no umbilical cord. My refrigerator synchronized itself naturally to the available sunshine. It was beautiful. When I found myself ignoring the solar and just living my life, I knew PV could work for others.

In the wind business, I had already been producing charge controllers, power centers, and DC conversion kits for appliances. Writing for magazines helped me gain a national market. Water pumping was the next frontier, as conventional well pumps were too inefficient for our modest power systems. I took a job with a water-windmill and pump supplier in 1981. We began solar-pumping wells and boreholes by again, adapting older technologies.

This led to my own product line of low-power high-lift pumps. The first was Solar Slowpump®, developed at my workshop bus in 1983. I mailed specs and pricing to 50 PV dealers and distributors. My expectations were blown away as orders came from cattle ranchers, missionaries, government services, Boy Scouts, hippies, hunters and monks. They wanted pumps and MORE PUMPS!

For the next 20 years, I delivered the goods. I wrote enough to fill a book. I did phone support until my left ear suffered. By 2005, I was The Old Founder, surrounded by trained professionals who were taking my job away. Until ...
                    With joy, I retired from commerce.

Now I honor the young professionals who have brought renewable energy into the mainstream.  They are my teachers.

PROFESSIONAL STORY

I started WindLight Workshop in 1977 to supply off-grid homeowners with wind-electric systems. This was before solar PV (photovoltaics) was on the market. I earned the title Windy.  In 1980, I began eagerly to phase out wind in favor of PV, and to focus on super-efficient system design. Water pumping was vital to my clients but efficient low-power pumps were almost non-existent. I grew frustrated waiting for others to answer the need. Lacking prior training, I dove in headfirst with an open mind. Solar pump manufacturing quickly became half the business, so I renamed it Flowlight Solar Power in 1986.

The solar industry was boosted by US and state tax benefits in the mid-80's. When those ended, the off-grid PV sector continued growing, faster than ever. We were not only reducing people's costs, we were improving their lives by eliminating kerosene lamps, noisy and dirty engines, and antiquated windmills.

Paul Benson joined me in 1995. We co-founded Dankoff Solar Products, Inc. in '96 as a wholesale-only manufacturer, and a distributor of PV equipment. At the same time, I sold the retail portion of the business to Allan Sindelar who then founded Positive Energy Solar (the #1 rated PV installer in New Mexico). I was free to focus on the next phase of solar pumping.

The deep-well breakthrough
The original Dankoff Pumps were surface pumps, not for deep wells (boreholes). I was dissatisfied with the available solar pumps —until the advent of the helical rotor pump. I knew about it in the 80s and 90s, but it wasn't until 2000 that high tech enabled the commercial feasibility of an efficient submersible form. Bernt Lorentz was a manufacturer of off-grid fuel pumps. His colleague Bernward Hollemann convinced him that solar pumping was an exciting opportunity, and urged him to contact me for guidance. From 1999 to 2004, I advised on the design and strategy of Lorentz helical rotor pumps. I wrote the original specifications and instruction manuals. Dankoff Solar Products was the first USA importer. Bernt Lorentz KG is now a world leader in solar pumping.

In 2005 I was satisfied to sell the business and step out of commerce. In 2013, the Dankoff Solar Pumps division was re-acquired by Solar Power & Pump Co. It's a perfect compliment—The Dankoff Solar Pumps  division is strong in surface pumps while the SunRotor division is strong in submersibles. In 2021, that company was purchased by Neil Bacoski. Neil is highly dedicated, ethical, and capable. I stay in friendly contact, and am honored to see my old company in good hands.

Now I focus on research, education, writing, with an eye on the future. I am a free agent with no financial ties in the industry.

Book in progress

My current project is: The Handbook of Solar Water Pumping with co-authors: Dr. Alma Cota, Robert Foster, and Eric Lespin, for publication in 2026 by CRC Press.

My co-authors come from academic, NGO and public sectors. They have been soiling their boots around the world since the 80's in support of renewable energy and water supply in the developing world. We are combining our experiences and perspectives to produce THE book on solar pumping.

Push the button for a preview (it's not up to date):
TV Interview

In 2012 I was pleased to be interviewed for KNME TV, along with my colleague Allan Sindelar. I discuss my point of view, and how I was able to support myself in a field that the "experts" declared unfeasible. Length: 12 minutes.

                Turn on the TV – HERE

Solar pumping has grown beyond my wildest dreams ...
The end of the rainbow:  Pivot irrigation in Sudan, solar pumped and remotely connected
Photo: AE Photonics, Morocco and Bernt Lorentz GmbH

Past Adventures

PHOTO LEFT:   A WindLight Workshop client outside of Santa Fe, NM. I rebuilt the 1940's Jacobs Wind-Electric Plant in 1978 and added the 
tracking PV array in 1983. It's still working, still off-grid!  (The white stuff is snow, not desert sand.)
CENTER:  From 1982 to 86, my off-grid home and office was in this sitting bus, 100% PV (no backup).  I had a low overhead (1 inch)!
RIGHT:   A 2009 upgrade:  Farmer Windy "out standing in his field" with a solar-pump irrigated garden

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