Posted: 6/13/2008 5:20:56 AM EDT
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Hey guys, I have been doing some research on solar and wind power lately. I eventually would like to have both in a nice grid-tied set up with a large battery bank. Does anyone have any experience with wind turbines? I did find a nice set up for only $400! Some of you might be interested as well. WindBlue Power |
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you're going to need a whole lot of the $400 kits if you want to do more than charge a couple of deep cycle batteries. their turbines will put out btwn 350 and 410 watts, i believe this is per month (iirc), at a 40 mph sustained wind. however, the likelihood of having a 40 mph sustained wind in the CONUS is highly unlikely unless you get up high off of the ground. at 12 mph, which is more what you'd see w/i 30' or so of the ground, those kits will generate from 0-25 watts. check www.bergey.com/ and look at their kits. it will give you an idea of what it'd cost to get a lot of power generated. windblue's kits are better than nothing, though. |
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The trouble with Wind turbines is if you live within the city. In my local area, some guy put up 2 small units and his neighbored bitched like a bunch of women. I suspect they were liberal democrats also. The guy ended up having to pay a bunch of BS permits to leave them up. Good ol' Government strikes again. |
| The $400 units are worth that much...try AirDolphin or Skystream. Also they are ready for grid tie, you will need an inverter that can tie into the grid. Safety and quality of the sine wave are important. Grid tie in means you play by the book and code. A 400watt unit is 400 watts at peak, you may get 50watts in a normal breeze. I have a 9500 watt array, I get 2000 to 3000 on a hazy day, about 8500 on a sunny day with some 9000+ peroinds. |