Your Questions About Wind Generator Cost

admin answers:

The only cost effective installation I’ve seen is at a home where connection to commercial AC power was very expensive. The home owner was quoted about $15000 to run a line to the house, and this became the alternate energy budget. Several solar panels, both for electricity and water heating were installed on the roof. A wind generator was installed on a 80 foot pole to supplement the solar panels. Battery banks, inverters, etc were installed inside to power the house. All appliances were selected to be very energy efficient, lighting was minimized, but remained adequate. The total price was less than quoted for commercial power, and comes with the added benefit of no further electric bills other than routine maintenance and repair of the system.

I think that if there is commercial electricity available you will be hard pressed to justify the expense financially. I’m installing a wind system to supplement the electric use in the house. Payback looks like it could take 10-12 years, but I’m not doing it as a money saving project, but rather as something to experiment with and learn. Instead of wasting money on cigarettes and beer every week, I’ve stashed money aside to finance my project.

I have pictures, electric diagrams, structural drawings, etc on my web page.
Http://members.rennlist.org/warren/wind.html

admin answers:

There is a person living off grid a few miles from me. When his house was built it would have cost $15000 to get poles installed to connect to the power grid. That became his budget for the solar/wind energy system. He installed solar heating panels, solar PV and a 1kW wind turbine to charge a battery bank, and even purchased a small portable generator. The system has been operating for several years. Payback on this system was immediate, and he hasn’t had an electric bill since.

I’m putting together a small wind system in my back yard. So far I have the concrete foundations installed for a 80 foot guyed tower. Inside, the equipment rack is pretty much complete with the exception of the dump load. Pictures and diagrams are on my web page.

Http://members.rennlist.org/warren/wind.html

Payback on the system is somewhere on the order of about 15 years, but I’m not building it to save money. If I were to smoke or go bar hopping regularly an equivalent amount of money would have been spent long ago. This way I have something concrete at the end of the day and it gives me something to experiment with and learn about.

admin answers:

Getting a wind turbine with enough energy generation to power a house and shop is very pricey – getting a turbine that generates 33,000 KWh anually (about 90KWh a day at peak performance) costs in the region of £20,000 (prob around $35,000) not including installation which itself is typically around £8000 ($14,000 ish).prices will always vary slightly job to job because of many different variables such as location etc.. If you get a turbine it’ll have to be supplemental if you want to keep costs to a more reasonable level.

Also, a wind turbine like that would be very large, anywhere between 15-18 metres high and an 8 metre blade diameter.

As for maintenence costs, it varies significantly – some measure it at around 1-2% of the original investment per year. Others place it at around 0.01USD per KWh generated which places the maintenence costs of a generator of the size you mentioned at around $330 a year, barring any major accidents happening of course.

Any wind turbine costing arounf the $200-$600 is going to generate around 500KWh anually or about 1.5 daily.

admin answers:

Most turbines don’t work at 9mph – they kick in at 15mph. Also, consider this: if they were cost effective, don’t you think everyone would be installing them? A neighbor of mine just got permission to install a turbine 50 ft up. He is all excited – most neighbors don’t like the idea. It puts out 5dB over the limit for noise, there will always be moving shadows, and it will stand out. He expects that the payback will be about 30 years, maybe only 25. With proper maintenance, it might last 35 years. There are places they are cost justified, though. I’m not against the technology, but I am against the misleading push by governments and well-meaning but myopic tree huggers.

admin answers:

A lot. I have heard between $25K and $50K, depending on size and if you want to sell any extra back to your power company. But that is hearsay. I do know they are big for any power level, and rather non-cosmetically-enhancing to a property.

And you have to remember the wind generators only start to work above a certain breeze level, and produce virtually no power at that wind level.

Now if you are blessed with 50 MPH gales 24/7/365 you will have reliable power. If you are like here, with occasional days of moderate winds, maybe 20 mph, and some of weak but gusty winds to maybe 10 mph, the generator will generate only small amounts of power.

Power varies as the square of the wind, I have read. So a 50 KW generator at 50 mph makes only 12.5 KW at 25 mph, and at 12.5 mph only 3.125 KW…not a lot these days, and a 3 mph breeze like we often have out here in the summer wold be producing only ’bout 200 watts…maybe 3 light bulbs.

Right now the wind is nice and calm, and so right now I would be in total darkness relieved only by my neighbor’s area light…cloudy so not even stars.

And I would not be writing this at all. My computer would be down!

My local power cooperative did study on their own wind station, set up in a pass with lots of wind, and found it seldom made full capacity, and averaged only about some 20% of capacity in a really good location.

Wind power for your home? Unless you got really strong winds all the time, I would say don’t throw away your electric meter! And have a deep wallet!

admin answers:

Don’t Give up. A wind Generator can hook directly to your electric company’s grid and they can monitor the amount you use and pay you the difference or you pay a small amount. It all depends on your usage to what you r producing. Or you can have basically a glorified Alternator and it can be hooked to batteries that will be converted to household electricity through an inverter. Hope this helps.