Home Wind Turbines

From a purely energy conservation point of view, there is an overwhelming case for micro generation of energy at the community or household level. Over 30% of all energy generated and supplied to the national grid is lost between the power station and your door. This is a fact of life, the inescapable laws of Physics coming into play.

One answer to this problem lies in the use of home wind turbines, which are now freely available from a number of suppliers. It is quite conceivable that home wind turbine power could provide some or all of your domestic electricity needs, though there are a number of qualifying factors.

Location, location and location

Ask any good estate agent about key factors in deciding where to buy a house and many will repeat the familiar mantra of location, location and location. The same can be said to somebody who wishes to use a wind turbine.

It is a fairly obvious statement, to say that it needs to be in suitably windy place. Not all domestic locations are ideal. Shelter provided by surrounding buildings can make (sub)urban settings, difficult. Not impossible just difficult. A mean wind speed of 6 meters per second is normally the minimum prerequisite. Rural locations tend to fare much better, though will still achieve poor results if the wind turbine is erected in a sheltered spot. An upslope facing into the typical prevailing wind is preferable to the downslope of a sheltered vale; it is also best if the turbine is situated away from sources of air turbulence such as buildings or trees. Ideally a professional assessment of the local wind speed should be made for a full year at the exact location where you plan to install a turbine. In reality, this may be a difficult, expensive and time consuming exercise to undertake

As a rough guide and starting point, the mean wind speed for your location can be determined by accessing The DTI wind speed database

Whether in an urban or rural setting it is often advisable to mount wind turbines on a dedicated pole, rather than roof mount, so minimising potential structural damage to property in the event of very high winds.

Power output

The smallest of domestic wind turbines available will generate about 1KW power and although this is insufficient to power your home, it will contribute to your overall power needs and help reduce bills. Power requirements vary greatly from property to property, however if looking to generate all household needs a minimum of 5-6 KW of power output is the starting point. What also must be taken into account, is the availability of wind. Wind speed naturally fluctuates, therefore a constant supply cannot be guaranteed. This is not really a great difficulty as all domestic wind turbines work along side your existing supply. If you wish to operate totally off grid, it is advisable to have a sufficiently powerful generator and battery storage with A/C conversion. In a small number of cases it is feasible to actually be self sufficient and supply energy back to the national grid at wholesale rates.

Costs

The installation of a home wind turbine will involve a number of costs. These will initially include site survey, local authority planning consent and installation of turbine. Each installation will be different in terms of customer needs and the environment into which it is to be installed. With this in mind it is fair to set a budget starting at £2-3,000 going up to £20,000. Also the lifetime of a wind turbine should be estimated to be 20 years, periodic maintenance costs and replacement of batteries (where applicable) should also be factored in.

Are they worth the cost?

From an energy conservation viewpoint, the answer has to be a resounding yes. From an economic standpoint the jury is still out. Providing you have done your homework correctly, the potential costs and assumed payback period can be ascertained. What cannot of course be guaranteed is the future costs of mains power or even the availability of power supplies. These factors alone should at least make home wind turbines worthwhile of further investigation.