Residential Wind Turbines

The national electrical grid is the single largest producer of greenhouse gas. As such, by reducing your use of electricity from the grid, you are reducing your personal carbon footprint.  New, small residential wind turbines or wind generators are making this an easy process for the home owner.

Homemade power usually comes from one of three sources – solar photovoltaic, horizontal axis wind turbines or vertical axis wind turbines.

 Solar P.V. systems are virtually maintenance free once installed but are very expensive compared to wind turbines (or the grid).

 Horizontal wind turbines have been around for a long time and function very well in large wind farms. For a small residential operation, you need access to “clear” wind. This usually means a very tall tower, which may restrict site locations to large rural lots. Southwest Power has been building residential wind turbines for many years. They continue to come out with new and improved products and I’m quite fond of their SkyStream 3.7 with it’s monopole tower. A standalone tower can fit into a lot of spaces that a guyed tower can not.

The third option, vertical axis wind turbines (vawt), are at home in the urban landscape. These residential wind turbines are able to survive the harsh air turbulence often found around buildings and trees. As they “face” all directions, all the time, they don’t really mind when the wind changes direction. There is no clear leader in the residential market for vertical axis wind

 turbines. Several new companies have introduced products in the past year. As with any newer industry, many of these companies will not be around in a year or two from now. With this in mind, it’s usually a good idea to purchase from someone you know, or go with a large diversified company that will still be around to support their customers, even if they no longer manufacture your model.

What to look for when purchasing a residential wind turbine.

• know your location – are there by-law restrictions, height restrictions
• talk to your neighbours – make sure they don’t have an issue with a wind turbine in “their” back yard.
• look at your electrical bill. Figure out how much power you use per month and per year
• know your wind – check your own site, the local airport for average wind – even put up a small weather station which you can buy for $140 and stores the wind speed on your computer.
• check the wind maps for your area. Figure out your AVERAGE WINDSPEED.
• with your average windspeed in hand, have the sales person show you their power curve and from the power curve, figure out how much power you will get in a year.
• Be aware that most residential wind turbines will produce about one tenth of their “rated” power “on average”. A 1 kw wind turbine is likely to produce around 100 watts per hour on average.
• decide  how much power you want to offset. A 1 kw turbine will NOT take you off the grid. A 3 kw wind turbine may not take you off the grid.
• Note: if your electrical utility allows for “net metering” you likely want to use it. This allows you to store any extra capacity on the electrical grid till it’s needed. This is much cheaper than purchasing batteries. However, when the power goes out at your neighbour’s house, it also goes out at your house.

One last option…. for the do-it-yourselfer, there are lots of plans on the Internet for small residential wind turbines that you can build in an afternoon, once you have the parts. You might want to make your own, and see where that leads you.

Similar Posts:

• Small DIY Wind Turbines Taking Flight
• Homemade Wind Turbine Very Popular
• How Much Power Do I Get From A Wind Turbine?

Filed under: Wind Turbines