Do you intend to install a home wind power system? If you are seriously considering a home wind power system, you should try to understand the basic issues involved.
General information
Your home’s wind power system will consist of a tower-mounted wind generator and turbine assembly, and related control and other equipment that will be mounted in a separate cabinet or enclosure. Permission from the local authority and clearance from local building codes may normally be required before erecting the tower and wind turbine on your property. You should also make sure that your neighbors don’t mind living next to a wind turbine. After all, we must admit that the wind turbine makes some noise, and secondly, the landscape of the area will have a “lanky” tower sticking out of the horizon.
Next, consider the suitability of your home’s location for installing a home wind power system. Generally, to install a wind turbine, your house must have at least one acre of land. Also, the average wind speed at your location should be at least 10 miles per hour. Be aware that nearby obstacles such as hills, buildings, trees, etc. You can increase turbulence or reduce wind speed by reducing the power available from your turbine.
Type of System to Install
There are three types of alternative home wind energy systems:
- Off-Grid (Standalone) Home Wind Power System This system is typically chosen when your home is not connected to the public grid or is not available. Your use of appliances will be limited by the capacity of the power system you choose to install.
- On-Grid Home Wind Power System with Battery Backup With this system, you have unlimited capacity from the grid available; Your wind energy system provides you with low cost energy and you use it as you choose. Power generated by your wind power system that exceeds your requirements can be fed back to the grid (for which you get rebates or payments). When the grid supply suffers an outage, you can still use the electrical power provided by your wind power system, within the limits of the capacity of the turbine and your battery bank. This system gives you the best of both worlds, but it is expensive.
- Home wind power system connected to the grid (On-Grid) without battery This is the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly system. This system does not have batteries to store the energy generated by your wind power system. The turbine output is fed directly into the inverter which can power your appliances or the grid as the case may be. The only drawback of this system is that, in the event of a network failure, there is no reserve supply.
Since there are no batteries, the initial cost is lower, the system requires less maintenance, and overall the system has a longer life, as the battery is the weakest link in achieving long system life. Also, the overall performance of your system may be better without batteries, as the inverter can better match the performance of the turbine running the system at optimum speed.
choose your system
Typically, a turbine for a home system would be rated from 1 to 6 kilowatts, but larger systems are also available. The size and classification used depends on individual requirements; small systems can be used only to charge batteries in boats and small houses; larger systems are used where grid-connected systems are required.
If you’re already connected to the grid, your energy bill tells you your monthly energy usage in kilowatt-hours (KWH). Since wind power is seasonal and also variable, you will generally try to install a home wind power system that will provide you with around 40-50% of your monthly power requirement. When choosing a turbine, look up the manufacturer’s data on monthly or yearly power numbers for the turbine, estimated for the average wind speed you expect or measure at your site. Remember that it is important to know the manufacturer’s data on the expected power generated at the wind speed at your site.
The power available from the turbine varies as the cube of its speed. So a turbine rated at 1000 watts at a wind speed of 15 MPH will only be able to generate about 500 watts at 10 MPH or over 2000 watts at 20 MPH. If the manufacturer’s data is listed at a different wind speed than expected at your location, you can make a rough correction to the rating as noted above.
We have tried to cover the highlights of your home wind power system above. There are a number of other aspects such as cost, tax breaks or subsidies etc. that you should consider.