Small wind energy systems can be connected to the electricity distribution … Contact online >>
Small wind energy systems can be connected to the electricity distribution
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Small wind electric systems require planning to determine whether there is enough wind, the location is appropriate, wind systems are allowed, the system will be economical. | Photo courtesy of Bergey WindPower.
Small wind electric systems require planning to determine if there is enough wind in your area on a consistent basis, if the location for the system is appropriate for harnessing wind energy, if zoning ordinances and building codes allow wind systems in your area, and if the system will be economical with all of these elements taken into consideration.
Before you invest in a small wind energy system, you should research local zoning ordinances and restrictions from neighborhood covenants.
You can find out about the zoning restrictions in your area by contacting the local building inspector, board of supervisors, and/or planning board. They can tell you if you will need to obtain a building permit and provide you with a list of requirements.
In addition to zoning issues, your neighbors or homeowners'' association might object to a wind turbine that blocks their view. They also could be concerned about noise. Most zoning and aesthetic concerns can be addressed by supplying objective data.
Some general information about height and noise issues for small wind electric systems:
For more information, see state and community codes and requirements for small renewable energy systems.
To help you analyze the economics of a small wind electric system and decide whether wind energy will work for you, you''ll want to work with a qualified installer to estimate a number of items, including:
Finding these estimates will help you determine whether wind energy is a good option for your site. If it takes too long to regain your capital investment--the number of years comes too close to or is greater than the life of the system--wind energy will not be practical for you. A professional installer should be able to assist with many of these questions. Resources such asDOE''s Consumer Guides for Small Windcan also help you get started on some of these estimates.
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Let''s make one thing clear right from the outset: Residential wind power is not for everybody. It''s not even for many people. Small, residential wind is a decidedly niche market, limited not only by the forces of geography and land use but also the availability of affordable solar power.
Don''t just take our word for it. Even those who have built careers, expertise, and livelihoods around wind power are the first to warn that it''s probably not the best option for most households.
"Quite honestly, I talk more people out of wind power than I talk into it," said Michael Soriano, director of sales and marketing at Bergey Windpower Co., the top U.S. manufacturer of small wind systems.
"It''s telling that I have solar panels on my roof but don''t have wind turbines in my yard," said Matthew Lackner, director of the Wind Energy Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
However, small wind can be a viable option to power a home under certain circumstances. In limited cases, it may even be economically preferable to solar power. And even when it''s not, some people just really like the idea of a big wind turbine spinning on their property.
"We''ve seen several times that people want to buy a turbine just because it''s a turbine. They want the 80-foot tower," said Bruce Hatchett, owner of California-based turbine installer Energy Options. "They want to be different or stand out, and that will do it."
Residential wind is quite rare, because it only has a chance to work at properties that meet basic conditions. In short, the property must be windy, it should be rural, and it ought to use a lot of power.
To state the obvious, you won''t have much success with wind power if you don''t live somewhere with an adequate amount of wind. As a rule of thumb, you''ll want to at least have an average wind speed above 10 or 11 miles per hour, or 4.5 to 5 meters per second, with higher speeds corresponding to greater power generation. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration''s wind maps, which display average wind speeds throughout the country on a month-by-month basis, are a good place to begin gauging your wind resources, and professional turbine installers can help you determine whether you''ll consistently generate the amount of wind necessary to meaningfully reduce your electric bill.
Rural locations allow for wide-open spaces without tall obstructions that will get in the way of the wind. In general, a turbine should be elevated at least 30 feet above nearby trees or buildings in order to generate the energy you need. Moreover, while zoning and permitting will differ state by state and community by community, it is safe to assume that the difficulty of installing a turbine will increase with more density of housing and buildings and without adequate setback from roads and neighbors'' property.
"You can''t really consider it in a suburban community with one-acre lots," said Soriano at Bergey Windpower.
Because wind turbines only come in certain sizes, experts say a turbine is generally only a useful investment for large homes that use a lot of electricity. Solar, by comparison, is more customizable to a given property.
While you can find a wide range of turbine models through retailers like Amazon or Home Depot for prices as low as $150 or as high as $6,000, these models are unlikely to take a huge bite out of your electric bill. Even the most powerful products'' own specifications say that, under consistent 12 mile per hour wind conditions, they will only generate at best a few hundred kilowatt hours of power per month. Experts caution that these are likely optimistic forecasts that rely on optimal conditions, may not account for energy that is lost after it is first generated, and would require a tall tower to reach heights where wind blows harder and which carries additional expenses.
These types of smaller-scale turbines may have some uses for consumers, but they are usually used as a "supplement to solar," said Wes Shank, vice president at Missouri Wind and Solar. He described a typical customer for these smaller-scale turbines as living in a very rural location, often a rancher or farmer, who needs power in a remote part of a property. But these smaller models are not suited to power a significant portion of most homes, said Shank, who estimated that wind powers only about 1 percent of the needs of his own off-grid home.
Significantly reducing a household utility bill will generally require a professionally installed turbine, with between five and 15 kilowatts of generating capacity. Weighing in at more than 1,000 pounds with blades that extend up to 30 feet, it will need to sit atop a tower that may stretch more than 100 feet in the air to maximize its capabilities. Sure, these products are still referred to as "small wind" because, compared to utility-scale turbines, they certainly are. But they''re much, much larger than the smaller-scale products described above that you may find while browsing the web.
In the best-case scenario, a not-so-small 15-kW turbine could produce as much as 45,000 kWh per year—but it could be much, much less than that. The actual number depends on multiple variables, including the size of the turbine, the strength of the wind resources, and technical aspects of the turbine itself.
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