Wind Power

Wind generators come in all different sizes and shapes. Used in the early 1900s for rural electrification on farms and ranches, to days wind turbines work mostly in the same way as the early generators of the passed.

Today most wind turbines are brushless in design and produce alternating current; this allows them to start spinning and producing power sooner, with less drag than from old brush type generators of the passed. With new blade designs and materials, many of today’s turbines use electronic over speed protection, basically shorting out one of the fields in the alternator to cause an electrical resistance or the power is diverted to what is called a dump load. A dump load can be a heating coil of one kind or another and be useful to heat water, air or a number of other uses.

Today’s smart power inverters and controllers take advantage of most all of the power produced by the wind turbine or solar panels by directing the power back into the grid or where it is needed. Most inverters being installed today in solar and wind systems are battery less and this is fine if you just want bill reduction. There draw back is that if the grid goes down for any reason they are designed to stop the flow of power to protect the utility workers, thus leaving you in the dark or with out power.

Are small Wind Turbines right for you? This will all depend on a couple things, your power consumption and the available wind at your site.

WIND MAPS

While local governments are pushing there large mega watt units, it is also important to understand that they are adding the power into a grid system that is over 100 years old and in many cases exporting the power to other areas, leaving you still paying high electric and natural gas prices.

The average home uses about 800 kw hours a month of electricity, this can be off set by installing 2-3 small turbines. Small wind turbines can be installed on rooftops, mono poles or used light poles. They don’t have to be installed on high-guided towers. They just need an unobstructed access to the wind. Many wind turbines can benefit from being installed on the peak of a roof as the wind is compressed as it flows up to the peak. If noise and vibration is a concern, a rubber isolator may be installed at the mounting point. Most small turbines cost between $1 to $2.5 a watt. Most energy grants or incentives pay up to $2 a watt for wind and $4 a watt for solar, this may be changing shortly. Basically the consumer will have to pay for the inverter and labor. There are also tax incentives being offered, be causes of these, as you will be taxed down the road for your equipment and or production of electricity but that’s life.

Bottom line, for dependable power, solar and wind is the only way to go!