Home Wind Power

Firstly, apologies if this kind of thing has been posted before.
I live in Devizes in the UK, and I'm interested in installing a small domestic wind turbine to my house (therefore it would have to be really quite small to avoid planning problems, etc). My questions are:
How much would a suitable wind turbine cost me?
Who makes them?
How do I connect to the electricity the turbine creates?
How much electricity can it generate? What is this in layman's terms?
Can I install the turbine myself?
Is there enough wind, and how can I measure this beforehand?!
Can anyone help with this? I'm really keen to do my bit for the environment and wind power seems to be the cleanest and most sustainable power option, but it's really quite difficult to get simple answers to my questions!
Many thanks,
Simon

"Seve Si" wrote:

I live in Devizes in the UK, and I'm interested in installing a small domestic wind turbine to my house (therefore it would have to be really quite small to avoid planning problems, etc). My questions are:

Advice- DON'T attach it to your house. Our house has passive roof turbines to exhaust hot attic air. They are very lightweight and free spinning. After the last hurricane, I found them in a neighbor's yard, bent them back into shape, and re-installed them. They look perfect, but the slight variation from perfect balance makes them thump just a little when they rotate at speed. That thump gets transmitted down through the rooof deck, rafters, ceiling joists, and ceiling, and is plainly audible inside, to the point that I am going to have to replace them. If those few ounces of rotating spheres of metal are a problem, imagine the noise and vibration that a wind turbine would create when attached to a dwelling.

Harry Chickpea wrote:

"Seve Si" wrote:
I live in Devizes in the UK, and I'm interested in installing a small domestic wind turbine to my house (therefore it would have to be really quite small to avoid planning problems, etc). My questions are:
Advice- DON'T attach it to your house. Our house has passive roof turbines to exhaust hot attic air. They are very lightweight and free spinning. After the last hurricane, I found them in a neighbor's yard, bent them back into shape, and re-installed them. They look perfect, but the slight variation from perfect balance makes them thump just a little when they rotate at speed. That thump gets transmitted down through the rooof deck, rafters, ceiling joists, and ceiling, and is plainly audible inside, to the point that I am going to have to replace them. If those few ounces of rotating spheres of metal are a problem, imagine the noise and vibration that a wind turbine would create when attached to a dwelling.

I have an Air-X attached to my garage - and I can attest that the noise would be intolerable if it was attached to the house. -- derek

"Seve Si" wrote in message

Firstly, apologies if this kind of thing has been posted before.
I live in Devizes in the UK, and I'm interested in installing a small domestic wind turbine to my house (therefore it would have to be really quite small to avoid planning problems, etc). My questions are:
How much would a suitable wind turbine cost me?
Who makes them?
How do I connect to the electricity the turbine creates?
How much electricity can it generate? What is this in layman's terms?
Can I install the turbine myself?
Is there enough wind, and how can I measure this beforehand?!
Can anyone help with this? I'm really keen to do my bit for the environment and wind power seems to be the cleanest and most sustainable power option, but it's really quite difficult to get simple answers to my questions!
Many thanks,
Simon

Much of the information I've found applies to the USA but this site can give you an idea of what to search for:
http://www.nrel.gov/wind/wind_map.html
Unless you have very consistant wind it would probably not be a practical choice.
In most places in the USA it is possible to connect wind/solar power directly to the "grid" via a grid-tie inverter. This method basically supplements your electricity and reduces your monthly bill. In most cases it is cheaper just to buy it from the utility company because it takes a long, long time for solar/wind to pay for itself, if ever.
Another option is a stand-alone system that charges batteries and in most cases an inverter attached to the batteries supplies you with AC power.
Places like this sell the equipment: http://www.solar-electric.com/ in the USA.
With a little searching on Yahoo you should be able to find companies that supply equipment that operate at the proper voltage and frequency for your area.

How much would a suitable wind turbine cost me?

Not sure on the cost, you will have to ask the companies for a quote. I am aware that there is a UK governemtn scheme called 'clear skies' which gives you a grant for domestic wind turbines to cover some of the cost. You can also sell spare electricity back to the grid if you opt for a grid connect turbine

Who makes them?

www.provenenergy.co.uk www.eclectic-energy.co.uk
are two uk companies that i know of. Proven are particularly good if you have abit of land to put up a mast.

How do I connect to the electricity the turbine creates? Either grid connect - where the turbine is wired into your distribution

box. Or via batteries... where it is isolated from the mains. A grid connect turbine is not allowed to generate in event of a power cut.

How much electricity can it generate? What is this in layman's terms?

5KW = 83 light bulbs
The biggest domestic turbine available is about 15KW

Can I install the turbine myself?

Depends if you know what you are doing! You would have to get any domestic connection/wiring checked by someone who is part P registered.

Is there enough wind, and how can I measure this beforehand?!

http://www.bwea.com/noabl/
should help. Most companies recommend an average wind speed greater than 5m/s

Can anyone help with this? I'm really keen to do my bit for the environment and wind power seems to be the cleanest and most sustainable power option, but it's really quite difficult to get simple answers to my questions!
Many thanks,
Simon

"Seve Si" wrote in message

Firstly, apologies if this kind of thing has been posted before.
I live in Devizes in the UK, and I'm interested in installing a small domestic wind turbine to my house (therefore it would have to be really quite small to avoid planning problems, etc). My questions are:
How much would a suitable wind turbine cost me?
Who makes them?
How do I connect to the electricity the turbine creates?
How much electricity can it generate? What is this in layman's terms?
Can I install the turbine myself?
Is there enough wind, and how can I measure this beforehand?!
Can anyone help with this? I'm really keen to do my bit for the environment and wind power seems to be the cleanest and most sustainable power option, but it's really quite difficult to get simple answers to my questions!
Many thanks,
Simon How small is a small turbine.....seen some used turbines on powerplants

online. But a small turbine for a utility company is 80KW. Big is in MW's.

----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

Seve Si wrote:

Firstly, apologies if this kind of thing has been posted before.
I live in Devizes in the UK, and I'm interested in installing a small domestic wind turbine to my house (therefore it would have to be really quite small to avoid planning problems, etc). My questions are:
How much would a suitable wind turbine cost me?
Who makes them?
How do I connect to the electricity the turbine creates?
How much electricity can it generate? What is this in layman's terms?
Can I install the turbine myself?
Is there enough wind, and how can I measure this beforehand?!
Can anyone help with this? I'm really keen to do my bit for the environment and wind power seems to be the cleanest and most sustainable power option, but it's really quite difficult to get simple answers to my questions!
Many thanks,
Simon
Hi Simon,

There are some good starting links here: http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Wind/wind.htm The Paul Gipe book is very good.
You have the right idea in wanting to determine how much wind you have before spending a lot of time and money. A lot of people build or buy a small wind turbine and run it for a few months (or more) just to find out if they have enough wind to be worth doing a larger project. This way, if it turns out you don't have enough wind, you can just sell the small turbine and not be out much.
www.Otherpower.com has a very active wind power set of forums you might want to take a look at.
Gary www.BuildItSolar.com

--
Gary
www.BuildItSolar.com gary@BuildItSolar.com "Build It Yourself" Solar Projects




----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

"Seve Si" wrote in message

Can anyone help with this? I'm really keen to do my bit for the environment and wind power seems to be the cleanest and most sustainable power option, but it's really quite difficult to get simple answers to my questions!

Get the book "Windpower Workshop" by Hugh Piggott
The monthly Homepower Magazine covers everything for off-grid living.
both have websites.

Hi Simon,
Follow the advice given and don't attach a small turbine to your house...bad idea. If you want to spend as little as possible for a domestic turbine, goto www.futurenergy.co.uk and ask them for a 1KW Upwind Turbine, not the Downwind one on their site. The Upwind one is also on eBay. This will produce 1000W in 12.5m/s winds, but you'll rarely get winds of that speed, so you'll probably get a couple of hundred watts in the winds you'd expect to see around the UK.
If you're OK at DIY then these are easy turbines to install, and the output should be connected to a SunnyBoy 1100LV Grid-Tie inverter, set to Turbine Mode, which can also be supplied by futurenergy. You utility company probably won't bother to provide you with an export meter, but these are �80 if you can get an electrician to install one for you.
These turbines will save you around 20% of your annual bills, which means that it will take a while to repay itself (many years). But it's your doing your bit for the environment that's the real benefit for these systems.
I know the above, since I have one of their turbines up, and it's grid-tied, so I've lived with the setup, unlike most people who offer advice in any groups...
Hope this helps Innovate 808 "Seve Si" wrote in message

Firstly, apologies if this kind of thing has been posted before.
I live in Devizes in the UK, and I'm interested in installing a small domestic wind turbine to my house (therefore it would have to be really quite small to avoid planning problems, etc). My questions are:
How much would a suitable wind turbine cost me?
Who makes them?
How do I connect to the electricity the turbine creates?
How much electricity can it generate? What is this in layman's terms?
Can I install the turbine myself?
Is there enough wind, and how can I measure this beforehand?!
Can anyone help with this? I'm really keen to do my bit for the environment and wind power seems to be the cleanest and most sustainable power option, but it's really quite difficult to get simple answers to my questions!
Many thanks,
Simon