Wind farm with solar

waqasahmed

Ripple energy has stand alone wind farms and stand alone solar panels 

Is the main thing stopping us seeing,something like this, sheer cost? Or perhaps it's too new a technology? 

. https://www.designboom.com/technology/powernest-wind-turbine-solar-panels-01-30-2023/

ABrass

It's likely that it'll be more expensive and less effective than separate systems.

Reed_Richards

Surely the issue is the price of land?  If land prices are expensive it makes sense to jam as much generating capacity on it as possible.  If land is cheap then it's more convenient not to mix your solar and your wind generators. 

Qyburn

The thing that strikes me is that even if the wind is straight on to one face of the building, the are looks quite small, compared to say a 20kW conventional turbine with swept area of 130sq.m.

Exiled_Tyke

The PV should work just fine but small turbines at a relatively low height are a complete waste and won't provide a meaningful return even though they complement PV.  The money would be better spent on a tracker system for the pV or better still as a separate investment in a wind farm.

But to answer the question. The main thing stopping this is the impracticality. As others (particularly Martyn) have mentioned on these boards turbines need to be as high as possible to benefit from much stronger winds and also to be away from lower lever turbulence AND also as big as possible for economies of scale.  The RE world has all but concluded that roof top turbines are poor investments and large scale projects at the way to go.

Screwdriva

Exiled_Tyke said:

The PV should work just fine but small turbines at a relatively low height are a complete waste and won't provide a meaningful return even though they complement PV.  The money would be better spent on a tracker system for the pV or better still as a separate investment in a wind farm.

As someone who installed off-grid micro hybrid systems for several years, and who still owns a 1 kW SouthWest micro turbine, I hesitate to paint with such broad strokes. 

There is a narrow band of users, typically off-grid/ well heeled/ rural/ agricultural or some combination of these, for whom a 3kW turbine like the ones on offer from RYSE (the E3) or the SD3, would successfully perform a battery top up + export role, even at 4 m/s average wind speeds. The more urban things get, the more planning and construction considerations need to be factored in, so definitely not for most of us. 

A few things to consider:

1) Will the turbine company send an engineer to repair/ service the turbine as part of an annual maintenance/ repair program? And will they be around for the next 10 years?

2) Cost of this Turbine itself is typically only 25-40% of the total cost of installation. Unless you’re off grid, and need to top up your batteries from Nov-March, the return on investment isn’t there. 

3) How will you get the turbine up/ down when a repair is needed? (Think of it as a giant alternator, so unlike PV, repairs will be needed). Also, the good ones last for 10 years (+/-) before component changes are needed. 

4) Typically they need their own charge controller and a dedicated inverter for the least hassle but some inverters will accept both inputs. It’s not a plug and play DIY job. 

5) Remember, all bladed turbines make noise in high wind conditions. I’d recommend a rural placement away from any bedrooms etc.

I'd estimate a £15-25K installed cost for these, depending on several variables, so not for the faint of heart. Believe it or not, there was a time when micro wind was far more affordable than Solar PV on a per kWh basis. 

waqasahmed

Exiled_Tyke said:

The PV should work just fine but small turbines at a relatively low height are a complete waste and won't provide a meaningful return even though they complement PV.  The money would be better spent on a tracker system for the pV or better still as a separate investment in a wind farm.

But to answer the question. The main thing stopping this is the impracticality. As others (particularly Martyn) have mentioned on these boards turbines need to be as high as possible to benefit from much stronger winds and also to be away from lower lever turbulence AND also as big as possible for economies of scale.  The RE world has all but concluded that roof top turbines are poor investments and large scale projects at the way to go.

I have to say the "aeromine" that's touted by some doesn't give me much hope especially when it's basically very very similar to the "Ridge blade" which went out of business.

I thought you could perhaps use solar even on high turbines too but apparently not so

QrizB

I could see some virtue in erecting a conventional solar PV farm on the ground surrounding conventional wind turbines, provided the site met the requirements for both. There would probably be some saving in infrastructure costs.

But not that contraption in the opening post.