Domestic Wind Turbines Blog

Archive for the ‘WIND POWER TURBINE’ Category

how much can this turbine make?
Proven Energy 15kW grid connect wind turbine – 300V Proven 15/300

i think you will find that you need about 10KW constant to provide all the electricity for a single family dwelling…..you have to keep in mind that the biggest problem is the electricity storage…have batteries that will store that much for at least a week at a time during periods of no wind.

Most people are opting for a combination of wind and solar to make it feasible to come off the grid

I am setting up a wind turbine system that only has a 400w wind turbine. I am going to make it a tie in and will not have a battery system to save power. Do i need a charge controller or is only having the power inverter enough
yes i meant a grid tie in.

so i would need to contact my electric company then and ask them what they supply and what i should purchase myself?

Do you mean grid tie?

Inverters work with a fixed DC voltage like 12 or 24 volts. The output of your generator will be varying with wind speed, so you need something in between to adjust the voltage driving the inverter.

You also need something to adjust the inverter frequency, phase, and amplitude to synchronize it with the power companies power line. Usually the power company supplies or specifies this, as well as the inverter.

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Are two wind turbines better than one big one?

Should I have lots or just one big one in the garden?

power goes as the area of the blade’s path.

twice the radius, four times the power.

it also goes as the square of the wind speed, so double the wind speed, quadruple the power

Hey Henry, good question. Actually, there has been quite a bit of work done in this area. Wind turbines today are basically around 33% efficient. There are variations of course, the more blades a turbine has, the less its efficiency. Turbines with multiple blades are generally built for high winds, such as an arctic weather station, or on an offshore oil platform. The theoretical maximum efficiency for any wind turbine is 59%, it’s called the, "Betz," limit, named after an engineer that did work in the field years ago.

If you want to learn more, you can go to the source. The American Wind Energy Association is a non profit group whos sole mission is the advancement of wind energy. There are some other places to look for information on the subject, I will list some other groups below. The easiest way to get right to the math work is to google, "Wind Turbine Efficiency," and look for a link to an AWEA website. They have all the formulas and examples spelled out for you right there. There are a couple guys considered the gurus of wind energy, Mick Sagrillo and Paul Gipe. They have each written books and articles on the subject and teach courses regularly as well. You might find some of their work online or at the library.

We have a wind turbine at our home in the Northern Great Lakes. It’s our third, the other two didn’t work out as well as we hoped. To be honest, this one is a good unit, but it’s had it’s issues as well. Wind turbines are not for everyone, but if someone has some acreage, good winds, and doesn’t mind fussing with the machine from time to time, it can be an interesting pastime, much like growing your own tomatoes instead of buying them at the grocery. Hope this helps. Good luck, and take care.

We are doing a project at school.

http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/amateur/coilgen.html

You will probably need to add a gearbox to the shaft and a large propeller, where the magnets turn 50 times per propeller turn or something like that to get it to work.

There are many variables here. First is your location. Defining factors are sustained wind velocity and average daily unobstructed sun. If you have average winds of 12-15 MPH or 6 sun hours the next consideration is initial cost. Large wind turbines need sustained winds in the 20 + Mph range for peak efficiency and become less cost effective if your wind energy is less. Wind generators are now much more expensive than photovoltaic panels but if you have the correct wind – much more efficient. Solar panels however are totally passive, twice as efficient as one year ago and virtually maintenance free with 25 year warranties. Wind turbine maintenance on the other hand can be 25% of initial cost as often as every 2 years. With the new grid tied systems batteries, inverters and converters are eliminated.
The amount of power generated may also qualify you for State Grants at different levels of Energy generated and may also make you eligible for additional grant money or a higher percentage of State funding. Check these things with your States "Alternative Energy" page.
Another consideration is payment for your Carbon Credits. Our local utility pays almost 2 to 1 for Kwh’s generated from Photovoltaics – since there are few if any Wind generators locally I don’t know if this would be true for them as well.
Depending on your state there are different grants for each type of generating device and the individual utility companies reimburse for "carbon credits" at individual rates. Either system gets a 30% Federal Tax Credit in "actual dollars" against the amount of tax liability (but not refundable over this amount – until 2016)
In my area (Southwest Ohio) we have good sun but nowhere near enough wind so our system is Solar. Hope this helps.

I am going to be making a wind turbine in the near future to supplement my home power usage, but I don’t want to attach it to a battery bank. I am hoping to grid tie the turbine and just convert it to AC power with an inverter and feed it directly through my home / Power grid.

So I’m wondering is there a way to convert an average AC inverter so it can be plugged directly in to a houses AC power outlet? I have seen these so called "plug and play" grid tie inverters online, but they are quite costly and only offer small power conversion (in the range of 250 Watts) in the price range I hope to stay around.

*/Just to add to this. I’m sure no one needs this info, but the turbine will probably create AC power, but it would be messy AC. So i am going to be using a rectifier to make the power DC, and then convert it to clean AC with the inverter. Any tips on this process would also be greatly appreciated./*

Throw what you know of the value of the el-cheapo inverters out. They are cheap for a reason, they don’t have to satisfy anybody, but your loads.

You need an inverter made and approved for grid-tie, to safely sync to inverter waveform to the line waveform, and to properly shut down when utility AC fails. They are also usually pure sine wave, while your el-cheapo use a so-called modified sine wave, no good to feed to the utility.

For what they have to do, they aren’t that expensive really.

According to the seller linked below, a proper 700W grid-tie inverter costs around a grand.

Hey, i have 2 kids and im a single parent. I have just finished building my own 4 bedroom home. I just got the first power bill and it was $600 for the first month. I am just wondering how much the $3000-$6000 wind turbines will cut down on my power bill per month. I live up on a hill on acerage and its quite windy. I want one of these instead of a solar panel because at night it will not work, as the wind turbine will. If you could put a link to a picture of the 3000-$6000 dollar wind turbine i would appreciate it.
1) How much will it cut down on my power bill if i have one turbine?
2) Please post a picture of it.
Thanks guys. I really need it.

I’ve been following alternate energy for several years, and re wind power, it seems as though you need to live in an area where the AVERAGE wind speed is approximately 13 mph in order to guarantee yourself uninterrupted power from the entire system you install. If you don’t fall into this category, re-think the wind power solution, and consider others which will give you more return on your investment.

I have built my own home made wind turbine. How can I use a car alternator to effciently generate electricity? Any other DIY wind turbine info really welcome.

First off the turbine would power the alternator.

Doesn’t the turbine have a shaft that spins? Mount a pulley on the shaft, use a fan belt to connect the alternator.

The wind turbine should be of such size that can come up on my building, whcih has six level.

Much less than 3%. Much better to insulate your loft, install double galzing or get your cavity wall insulation completed. Better still, turn down your thermostat and get low energy lighting. Putting wind turbines, on an individual basis, on your home is a waste of time and money. It’s done by politicians and rich people as a form of posturing – like look how good we are!!