B&Q Wind Turbines (Merged Thread)

colinS

I went into my local B&Q the other day and found that the Windsave turbine was missing from the out-of-the-way corner it had been relegated to. I asked a sales person where it now was, and finding it wasn't where she thought it was she instigated a search. She was very helpful even though I told her I had no intention of buying one. We finaly found out it had been moved to the foyer by the exit. So now you know where Windsave is - it's on the way out.

mm684

Hi Folks,
I must be the only satisfied windsave customer.
I live in a windy urban area in an ordinary house.
I have had a turbine for 3 months now and yes it is saving me money.
On a windy day we use 3KWH and on a still day 12 KWH.
Overall it seems to be making real savings of 30-40% over last year.
The planning permission went straight through and my neighbours are fine with the turbine.
I priced solar PV and for a 1KW system it came in at £5k after grant.
With the windsave coming in at £1100 it was a no brainer for me.
I bought it on a wednesday with my over 60 neighbour and got a 10% discount, I paid in B+Q vouchers which I bulk bought with a 5% discount. I also got a grant of £385. Add the planning+ drawings and it cost £1100.

Sorry to be the fly in the ointment but for some people it does work.

magyar

mm684 wrote: »

Hi Folks,
I must be the only satisfied windsave customer.
I live in a windy urban area in an ordinary house.
I have had a turbine for 3 months now and yes it is saving me money.
On a windy day we use 3KWH and on a still day 12 KWH.
Overall it seems to be making real savings of 30-40% over last year.
The planning permission went straight through and my neighbours are fine with the turbine.
I priced solar PV and for a 1KW system it came in at £5k after grant.
With the windsave coming in at £1100 it was a no brainer for me.
I bought it on a wednesday with my over 60 neighbour and got a 10% discount, I paid in B+Q vouchers which I bulk bought with a 5% discount. I also got a grant of £385. Add the planning+ drawings and it cost £1100.

Sorry to be the fly in the ointment but for some people it does work.

Just so you know, if you work on the following assumptions:

Inflation = 2.5%
Interest rate after tax = 3.5%
Cost of turbine = 1100
Annual savings = 40%
Average annual electricity cost = £500

Payback time = 11 years
(if your Windsave is still working at that time...)

Happy to run those calcs again if you've got more accurate figures.

Cardew

mm684 wrote: »

Hi Folks,
I must be the only satisfied windsave customer.
I live in a windy urban area in an ordinary house.
I have had a turbine for 3 months now and yes it is saving me money.
On a windy day we use 3KWH and on a still day 12 KWH.

Welcome to the forum.

You use(???)12kWh when still and it drops by 75% when windy?

Few people ever get more than 2kWh in a day.

Can you give some more detail please.

magyar

Cardew wrote: »

Welcome to the forum.

You use(???)12kWh when still and it drops by 75% when windy?

Few people ever get more than 2kWh in a day.

Can you give some more detail please.

Isn't that almost impossible? It's a 1 kW turbine so to produce 12 kWh in one day is a capacity factor of 50%.

The UK average for large-scale turbines is 29%, and the highest I know of is in the north of Scotland at around 40%.

[I just based the figures in the post above on the quoted 30-40% savings per year]

moonrakerz

mm684 wrote: »

I live in a windy urban area in an ordinary house.
I have had a turbine for 3 months now and yes it is saving me money.
On a windy day we use 3KWH and on a still day 12 KWH.

From BWEA website:

"How much of the time do wind turbines produce electricity?

A modern wind turbine produces electricity 70-85% of the time, but it generates different outputs dependent on wind speed. Over the course of a year, it will generate about 30% of the theoretical maximum output.

How efficient are wind turbines?

The theoretical maximum energy which a wind turbine can extract from the wind blowing across it is just under 60%, known as the Betz limit. "


Doesn't seem to tally up somehow ?

magyar

moonrakerz wrote: »

From BWEA website:

"How much of the time do wind turbines produce electricity?

A modern wind turbine produces electricity 70-85% of the time, but it generates different outputs dependent on wind speed. Over the course of a year, it will generate about 30% of the theoretical maximum output.

How efficient are wind turbines?

The theoretical maximum energy which a wind turbine can extract from the wind blowing across it is just under 60%, known as the Betz limit. "


Doesn't seem to tally up somehow ?

For all meaningful purposes, ignore the second paragraph. What that describes is the maximum amount of energy which could POSSIBLY be extracted by a wind turbine, but since no-one lives in a wind tunnel it's almost irrelevant.

The main meaningful number is the capacity factor (sometimes known as 'load factor') which is calculated like this:

The windsave turbine is 1 kW turbine, so if it were possible to generate 100% of that capacity 100% of the time, it would generate 1 x 24 x 365 = 8760 kW h.

In actual fact, a turbine will generate less than that (this is any turbine, not just a windsave) since the wind is variable. Let's say the turbine generates 2409 kW h over a year.

2409 * 100 / 8760 = 27.5% capacity factor.

The capacity factor will depend upon dozens of factors, including turbine technology, average wind speeds, local topology and so on.

moonrakerz

Sorry Magyar, I may have confused you with my post.

The figures I referred to in my 'don't tally' comment were those on the BWEA website and the remarkable efficiency claimed for a B & Q turbine in an "urban" setting.

magyar

moonrakerz wrote: »

Sorry Magyar, I may have confused you with my post.

The figures I referred to in my 'don't tally' comment were those on the BWEA website and the remarkable efficiency claimed for a B & Q turbine in an "urban" setting.

Oh, I agree completely - that's absolute tosh!

Although I found it interesting that EVEN with the 'absolute tosh' numbers, it would take 11 years to pay back.

Cardew

Together with the 'tosh' is the ability to use whatever magnificent output the Windsave is producing.

Except for when my freezer/fridge compressor is running I hardly use any electricity during the night.