Wind turbines

zeupater

tiggerpud wrote: »

Thanks for all of your replies. I do live in a rural location with plenty of land (4.5 acres of paddock) and it always seems windy here (I'm only about 2 miles from coast) but it seems perhaps not a viable option at the present time then.

Hi tiggerpud

Considering you are in a rural location, some simple questions ....

Can you see the sea from where the turbine will be. ?
What direction is the sea (S/W ?)
Where in the country are you ?
Have you looked up the average windspeed for your location ?
Would the turbine be on the crest of a hill ?
Will it be on a 10m(ish) mast ?
What kind of turbine are you looking at ? (hopefully not VAWT !)
Are there any trees/buildings/hedges over half the hight of the mast within 10x the hight of the mast in the prevailing wind direction (S/W ?) or in the direction of the sea ? (what about other directions ?)
What size (power) turbine are you looking at ?
Have you got an idea what a turbine & mast of this size is likely to cost ?

....... It could be a viable option, depending on the answers to the above.

HTH
Z

Jon_Tiffany

tiggerpud wrote: »

Thanks for all of your replies. I do live in a rural location with plenty of land (4.5 acres of paddock) and it always seems windy here (I'm only about 2 miles from coast) but it seems perhaps not a viable option at the present time then.

If you have some land and live near the coast then maybe this:

http://www.windenergy.com/products/skystream/skystream-3.7

Its the smallest MCS acredited wind turbine currently on the list.

Jon_Tiffany

zeupater wrote: »

Hi tiggerpud

Considering you are in a rural location, some simple questions ....

Can you see the sea from where the turbine will be. ?
What direction is the sea (S/W ?)
Where in the country are you ?
Have you looked up the average windspeed for your location ?
Would the turbine be on the crest of a hill ?
Will it be on a 10m(ish) mast ?
What kind of turbine are you looking at ? (hopefully not VAWT !)
Are there any trees/buildings/hedges over half the hight of the mast within 10x the hight of the mast in the prevailing wind direction (S/W ?) or in the direction of the sea ? (what about other directions ?)
What size (power) turbine are you looking at ?
Have you got an idea what a turbine & mast of this size is likely to cost ?

....... It could be a viable option, depending on the answers to the above.

HTH
Z

Great list of considerations, dont forget you will need planning permission as well.

Cardew

Jon_Tiffany wrote: »

No, not at all, no hindsight, its all old news I'm afraid. It was well known way before the wind trials that wind turbines do not work well in urban environments. It has always been the prevailing wisdom.

The warwick wind trials were in part in response to the growing number of small windturbines intended for use in urban environments.

Take a look at some of Hugh Piggots books on small turbines, go back 20 years in time and ask him if urban wind turbines work.

The main issue we have is the definition of 'well known'! - it certainly wasn't common knowledge amongst the buying public.

The Energy Saving Trust were very enthusiastic about the technology in urban enviroments. Indeed even their current(sorry) blurb is very encouraging:

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy/Wind-Turbines



WHICH also did not express any technical reservations prior to their trial; and the media was full of recommendations a couple of years ago.

I would also take issue with you about the purpose of the Warwick trial - this was their aim:

The objectives in setting up the trial were to see how grid connected microwind turbines perform on a variety of building types and to see if any patterns emerged that could provide a helpful guide to potential purchasers and also help manufacturers and installers direct their sales and marketing efforts appropriately.

grahamc2003

Jon_Tiffany wrote: »

The Warwick wind trials were like putting a load of solar pv on north facing roofs and under trees and then saying, oh look solar pv is a waste of time. Everyone already knew that small wind turbines in urban environments didn't work, the trial just confirmed it.

.

I think that statement is a Drastic re-writing of history!

Two years ago, on boards such as these, small windturbines on roofs were the best thing since sliced bread, with many people thinking they would produce plenty of 'free' electricity. B&Q sold plenty, even pm Dave put one on his roof and sang its virtues.

The Warwick study just proved what an extremely small number of posters knew, and the vast majority didn't. I shudder to think of the absolute waste of the earth's resources the home turbine fiasco has caused - all completely unavoidable.

You'll be telling us next that there hasn't, until recently, been a very successful and vociforous campaign against Nuclear power for decades, once the devastating effects of that campaign become clear in a few years.

keith_r59

Common sense should tell you that wind turbines are a non-starter in urban areas regardless of who said what when and how successful B&Q are/were in selling them.

Solar PV is only cost-effective for your average householder because of the massive subsidies which, if and when they are withdrawn for new installations, will cause the industry to go into reverse in this country.

Let's face it, the majority of people installing these systems are doing it solely for the money; the green credentials are secondary.

Mankysteve

keith_r59 wrote: »

Common sense should tell you that wind turbines are a non-starter in urban areas regardless of who said what when and how successful B&Q are/were in selling them.

B&Q stooped selling them ages ago refunded all customer are were planning on suing wind serve though I dont know if the case made to court/the outcome

keith_r59 wrote: »

Solar PV is only cost-effective for your average householder because of the massive subsidies which, if and when they are withdrawn for new installations, will cause the industry to go into reverse in this country.

Let's face it, the majority of people installing these systems are doing it solely for the money; the green credentials are secondary.

If someone is installing solar Pv to make money there much better investments out there with much better pay back periods.

Non Fits Pv can still payback within 25 years. Most people who install Pv are not after the money.

Rodders57

the biggest problem for small scale wind turbines ( grid connected ) in urban areas is they still have to conform to G83 limits ( same as pv, CHP ) so the inverter has to wait 3 minutes before passing the power into the grid. With wind being intermittent as in slow-medium-harsh-none and the inverter needs 80% of its output before it can work, it then has to wait three minutes by then the wind my have dropped/stopped. Then the cycle has to begin again. So its probably better to store into batteries with a non g83 compliant inverter.

celerity

!!!!!! wrote: »

It's not, it's Dinorwig

Ok, but that's a hydro storage facility - a casual reader of the thread would be forgiven for thinking you were talking about a wind farm

I see your point though I think. You're saying that excess wind energy could be sent to somewhere like Dinorwig to store the energy?

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celerity

Mankysteve wrote: »

If someone is installing solar Pv to make money there much better investments out there with much better pay back periods.

Non Fits Pv can still payback within 25 years. Most people who install Pv are not after the money.

Some businesses could payback without the FiT (with a pretty large array) but no domestic user could in my opinion.

I have invested in a 4kWp array for my home and office, which has two people working throughout the day. I've done that for ideological reasons (I want to support the renewables industry), as a hedge against future electricity rises and yes, the money. Without the FiT I couldn't have justified the expense - my savings on electricity during the day alone would never break even over 25 years.

As an aside, I also think it's a great investment, but time will tell if I'm right.

/\dam