wind power

[billd]

Wind Power

I am new to the wind power game. I have been reading and reading to the point were I now know less than when I started. He is what I need help on. I want to set up a wind farm on my house in St. Thomas and drive as much power into my house as possible. I will never ne able to turn the grid around but at 50Cents per K I need to do something. I believe that I need to have a 48 volt system. But after that I am lost.

I need  drawing of what I need to do to get started. And where to go for the stuff. I see lots of winf farms on ebay that have 4 or five or even six smaller wind turbines and my house can support even more than 6 wind mills. So where do I start?

Please help me!!!

[zeusmorg]

 Where do you start?

 First, you need to evaluate your resources,what speed winds and are they constant enough to even justify building a windmill? You usually need 10+ mph winds on a regular basis to make the cost of building a system justifiable.

 Do you have a location that you can properly and safely locate a tower? Putting small windmills on a house roof is no way to do it, first small mills are just that small and poor power producers. And the vibrations from a windmill transmitting through your house isn't worth not sleeping!

 You can do a search for wind speed data for your general location, and if those are favorable, then buy a good anomometer to see it your particular site is even worth building a several thousand dollar system.

 A decent windmill of a 10' diameter will cost upwards of 1,500.00 if built yourself, then double that for a decent tower, add in costs for copper cable, and probably 3 grand for a good inverter, oh and don't forget your battery storage. So unless you're willing to start off real small, you're looking at a sizable investment.

 Wind power is not free, it's just pre-paid!

 

[wooferhound]

" Wind power is not free, it's just pre-paid!"

This is so true. Wind power is NOT free.

[Flux]

Good advice Zeusmorg.

Look at Paul Gipe's site and Michael Klemen's site and get to understand what you can get from a given diameter of machine in a given wind speed. Try looking at Hugh Piggot's site and read the stuff Dan has here at Otherpower and then you will get some idea if it is worth bothering.

Normally this only works for enthusiasts or people who don't have grid power. If you are in it to save money then tread very carefully and unless you can build the stuff yourself then at best it will be a long payback period, at worst it will not pay back in the life of the machinery.

Flux

[TheCasualTraveler]

Take heart Billd,

     Although the comments above are true you may be a viable candidate for wind power from what you say of your location in the Virgin Islands. Answer a few more questions for us,

How many KWH's of electricity do you use per month and what is your average bill?

What measures have you taken to conserve.

Are you in an area with unobstructed air (the coast, a hill) or in the middle of a residential area?

How large is your property?

What degree of skill do you have for DIY projects?

Are there any laws or ordinances prohibiting windmills?

Do your neighbors like you?

[billd]

Thanks for the feed back.

I have cut everything that I can cut. So it is only a question of what to do next. Power in the Virgin Islands is 50 cents per k. That is three times the state side average.

I live on a hill right above the beach and my average wind speed is about 20 mph. And I have no real neighbors on the beach side. And I rebuilt this house after I purchased it damaged from a hurricane. So I am pretty handy as well as being an electrical engineer in a past life.

The real question is that I can't get an answer to either one wind mill or a wind mill farm. The house is set up so that about 4  small  windmills would be easy to mount on the house as opposed to one larger one. By mounting on the house I mean that I have a round living room that it detached from  the main house. It has a 15 foot flat roof. So mounting a pipe in the gront and running it up above the roof would be pretty easy.

But the real question is how would I connect all of these wind mills together? Or is this a lost cause?

Any thoughts?

billd

[electrondady1]

it sound as if you are in an ideal location .

you must  rectify each wind mill separately and then run them in parallel to your battery bank

you would need a charge controller with a dump load capability

hot water seems to be a popular dump load.

[zeusmorg]

 With 20 mph winds on an average basis you are a good candidate for windpower.

 Here's some things to consider: Building one good sized windmill vs 4 of a similar ability to produce electricity.

 Every mill will have to have a separate tower, you do not want a HAWT close to the ground, the wind gusts badly there, and can cause stress issues etc,you want it up in that nice clean airflow at a higher distance. So is one well built tower going to be cheaper than 4? Yes.

 Also you have to factor in the run of copper to your batteries or point of use.

Even though a single run of ,say #10 copper is more expensive than 1 run of #18 copper it will not be cheaper than 4! (this is an example only)

 Also you'd have to build 4 separate mills, duplicating all the metal and fittings.

 Yes a smaller windmill is cheaper than a large one, but all factoring together you would be better off building one good quality well built windmill than 4 smaller ones.

 The efficiency of most smaller mills is poor. Of course there is a happy medium, i'm not suggesting you build (or buy) a 20 Kw machine. I'm just suggesting that one mill say of a 10 or 12' diameter would be a better producer and cheaper than 4 3' mills.

 It is still not a good idea to put a windmill on top of a house, but if you think it won't cause sound vibrations through the structure and keep you awake all night that is your choice.

 There are plenty of examples on how to wire your windmill on this site, as well as a lot of design information. Look through it, do searches, if you're well informed and ask intelligent questions you will find many happy to help you out.

 You also have other things to consider, you will want any windmill you put up easy to take down in that event a hurricane is forecasted! You may build it strong,it may furl well, but as you already know a hurricane is nothing to mess with!

 Many people here do start out with smaller machines for their first build. It will give you experience.

[ghurd]

Define "small".

A 4' diameter windmill has 12.5 square feet to extract wind power.

A 6' diameter windmill has 28.3 square feet to extract wind power.

A 6' windmill is much more cost effective than two 4' windmills, and can make over twice the power.

Connecting them together is simple for battery systems.

Connecting them together with a grid tie inverter would depend on the inverter.

G-

[TheCasualTraveler]

So, there you go billd.

     My advice to you, if you are set on putting a mill on top of your house is to start with a 6 footer. A single 6 footer, and you can ponder a wind farm after you have learned all that you will learn after building your first machine. It's a nice easy to handle size that can put out a good bit of power in a steady 20 mph wind. Mount it on the roof and if noise and vibration are not a problem then good for you. If it is a problem you may want to move it to a mast beside the house using the house (and rubber bushings) as a brace. Then if that doesn't work you will know you need a tower. Do this and nearly all the questions you have now you will be able to answer yourself.

     Then, before adding more turbines you may want to do some solar panels and solar hot water panels to further reduce your energy needs. I hope you give it a try. You didn't say how much you spend a month for electricity beyond what it costs per KWH but my guess is the turbine will cost you about 1 months electric bill. (Tower, batteries and inverter sold separately)

Good luck.