Windmill or Wind Powered Generator

[herdfan]

Anybody here have any experience (personal or otherwise) with wind-powered generators for your home? There are several websites that have information on them, but it seems that either the cost is too high to make it feasible (unless you want your grandkids to reach the payback point) or the amount of energy produced is too unreliable unless you live in the optimal location and have a huge turbine on a 100 foot pole.
Eric

 

[chucko]

I was at one time thinking of getting a small water pumping one to water my garden (and I think the look cool) untill I found out the cost of them.

 

[sl3uth]

If you want the nostalgic windmills, your best hope is to find a used one that's not in too bad of a condition...Unfortunately, most working ones that I've found are over $1K. Parts mills can go for as little as $300 if your knowledgeable and you think you can find the missing parts.

If you really want an efficient, low-cost windmill (for the function, rather than the asthetic value), then look into the Brake Drum Windmill . It wouldn't be good for a direct mechanical pump to a well, but it would power an electric pump.

Sam

 

[herdfan]

I am mainly interested in an electricity-producing unit. Those water pumping mills do look nice though.

Those plans for a home-made wind generator look pretty good. Looks like the cost of going that route is more managable than a new manufactured one. As far as I know, we don't get any sort of incentive for installing this or any other type of alternative energy source in West Virginia (home of big coal). I heard that the electric rates here in WV are due to become completely deregulated in 2005. I just hope we don't become another California!

 

[Cacinok]

I looked into this a while back and came to the same conclusion that I think you've reached - that the return on investment is extremely low - if any at least in the next 20 years or so. Same with solar. Now if a guy could rig up the system without having to buy everything prefab, e.g., tower etc., then it would be a better deal, but you'd really have to skimp to make it worthwhile. Maybe down the road costs will come down.

Clint.

 

[rambler]

Here in Minnesota the power companies are required to buy back power from your 'green' installation at wholesale prices. You also need to install the correct disconnects to keep from frying a lineman of course. I thought this program was mostly fedral?

As little as a 1/4 mph average wind speed over the year can have quite an affect on your income. Here in parts of south west Minnesota they have quite the wind farms springing up with the large wind machines. More local to south central Minnesota there are mid-sized towers here & there, I understand it's a couple of $100,000 investment and pays off in 10 years, after that you make money. The problem with mini- homebrew systems is the regulation & powerline interconnect devices become real spendy for your small output; and the power company is right to need them to protect their workers. Efficeincies are poorer, carving into your pay-back.

--->Paul

 

[chucko]

I could get enough light gage steel from work to build my small water pumper if I could get some good plans and a gear box at a good price....mainly the gear box
What got me was I was thinking these things have been around for years and years and out in fields and old farms. I had no idea the cost would be so high on them.

 

[mrcaptainbob]

http://www.fieldlines.com/ is also a good source.

 

[rockinmywaypa]

otherpower.com is another good interesting site for a do it yourselfer. I believe there is direct links to scorags site anyway.

 

[Jim_W]

I have been doing some reading up on this myself; it's a big topic. Step 1 in any of these endeavors is dramatically reduce your consumption. To set up anything that would generate enough to replace the amount of electricity we are used to using would be really cost prohibitive. I have heard ~ $50K for example.
Home Power is an interesting magazine and there are lots of articles you can dowload from the web.

 

[herdfan]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( More local to south central Minnesota there are mid-sized towers here & there, I understand it's a couple of $100,000 investment and pays off in 10 years, after that you make money. )</font>

Paul
Are these used to power several homes or just one household?
I figured to buy a system just for our home would be in the $40-60K range.
I could pay a lot of electric bills for that amount of money.

 

[herdfan]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( http://www.fieldlines.com/ is also a good source. )</font>

mrcaptainbob
Thanks for the web reference.
Looks pretty good.
Will take some time to dig through it, but should be very helpful.
Eric

 

[rambler]

herdfan, these mid-to-small size systems are for one farmsite, and generally rely upon the electric coop (out here in rural MN all the power companies are actually REA coops originally started by the gov) as a 'battery' for the system. You buy power at retail, & sell power at wholesale to the power company. If you size the system about double - 3x what you use, I believe you get the quickest pay-back, as you can spread the fixed cost over more kwa's produced, but the tower doesn't grow too big (looks like beefy TV anntenna tower) to support an even bigger windmill.

This is different than people trying to produce their own power & be off-grid. You are trying to make a profit (tho small) from the tower, independent of your own power use. It's not a real profitable way to go, but if you have some cash to invest & want to feel Green it can work if you live close enough to the 'Buffalo Ridge' of SW Minnesota, where a lot of bonus wind sweeps down the long prairie from SD.

In the far west of SW Minnesota quite a few of the major wind towers (solid tube, like a new water tower) have sprung up. They are into full-scale power production. Much of the better sites already have leases signed, and there have been problems with companies going belly up & the lease & rights being in limbo....

--->Paul

 

[TBAR]

Water pumping windmills look pretty nice.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/40489315/40492522owMybp

http://community.webshots.com/photo/40489315/57100671SvXOQd


TBAR

 

[MikeIA]

In Iowa, as far as I can tell, only invester-owned utilities are required to purchase your excess power. The cooperatives are not required, so they will fight any attempt to do "net metering".
I would recommend you contact your power company, and get a feeling on how "friendly" they are going to be.

 

[F_22]

<font color="blue"> </font> ( As little as a 1/4 mph average wind speed over the year can have quite an affect on your income. )

<font color="black"> </font> Currently available wind turbines don't generate any power at all until wind speed is at least 6 to 8 MPH. And 12 to 15 MPH is more like what's needed to generate a useable amount of power. Many areas of the U.S. don't see that kind of wind speed much of the time. See maps at: Wind Energy Resource Atlas of the United States
(1 meter/second = 2.237 miles/hour)

Consumer-sized wind turbines generally aren't worth the high capital investment unless you are in a remote location where it would be prohibitively expensive to physically run service lines in and/or your power needs are very small.