does anyone here have a wind generator

N8 v2.0 · Mar 29, 2005

bcd said:
well not quite that big but am thinking about buying a few small ones.

thought someone might have some and some advice on what to get.

i have an acre and live outsode city limits so i am under no restrictions.

the goal is to make soem money putting power back on the grid.

thanks

Just remember that although the power company has to buy your excess power, they will do so at a wholesale price (basically at the same cost they pay to produce it) which is hardly anything.

Sandwich · Mar 29, 2005

come on, somebody had to do it....

I have heard that even though you get free electricity and the state gives you some money, it still costs more to install one of those things, since you have to pay for it....but that was some time ago, maybe there is more incentive now...and the area was upstate ny.

C.P. · Mar 29, 2005

Very nice - it is very rewarding to find a way to be less dependant on the ever rising costs of being on "the grid". I have an aquaintance that has two small wind generators. He has had some god luck, and some bad luck. Good luck, watching his consumption be much less from the utility, hasn't received a check yet, but came REALLY close. Bad luck, dealing with a nasty storm that tore the rotors off one of the units, and a total failure on the other. This doesn't include regular testing of the batteries, and general system operation. The way I understand it, your going to have to install a way to store the power you generate, a method to rectify it (change it from DC to AC) and install wiring and a controller to handle the net metering set up. IE you'll basically have two electrical meters on your home, one for the power you buy from utility, and one for the power you sell to them. Net metering involves calculating the difference (net use after normal billing cycle - a month?)...If you have good year round sunshine, consider all of the above, but install solar voltaics in lieu of wind generators.
Oh yeah, also, you (and your neighbors if this is a consideration) would have to get used to the constant wrrrrr of the wind generator when its windy...

So far, I have a Solar Domestic Hot Water System, which is the least hassle in terms of regular maintenence etc. Even on the coldest day of the year - the heat exchanger preheats the primary hot water tank to 70 degrees (gas fired unit does the rest)..for up to 5 months a year - I dont pay a gas bill higher then say 8 bucks (gas range in kitchen). I am lucky b/c it came with the house when purchased - so I didn't have to make the intial "investment" - so to speak...

SkaredShtles · Mar 29, 2005

I hope that they get the fuel-cell thing figured out soon. It'd be nice to have a tiny little fuel cell generator in the basement running on naturaly gas that could let me disconnect from the grid. :thumb:

-S.S.-

golgiaparatus · Mar 29, 2005

I think those things cost several million dollars. Solar power is way cheaper.

N8 v2.0 · Mar 29, 2005

As you get into it, you might find that it's cheaper per kwh to use grid power.

N8 v2.0 · Mar 29, 2005

bcd said:
right now maybe, but 5 years from now? OIL, GAS, COAL.

you don't have to agree with me i was just looking for

someone with SOME experience with it.

You misunderstand. I am an electrical engineer who works energy conservation. I know that there is a lot of wind generation out in SW Texas so the conditions to gen are good.

I don't have much experience in the construction of wind-gens but I am fimilar with how much wind-gen goes for on the Texas market. Dyess AFB in west Texas is 100% wind-gen supplied... something in the range of 80_million kwh's.

N8 v2.0 · Mar 29, 2005

Last year, I did a field test of a 5kw fuel cell. It was a small business/residential unit that ran off of natural gas. It was a good little unit... expensive tho.

5kw would be big enough to power a house and maybe sell a little power back to the power company.

SkaredShtles · Mar 29, 2005

N8 said:
Last year, I did a field test of a 5kw fuel cell. It was a small business/residential unit that ran off of natural gas. It was a good little unit... expensive tho.

5kw would be big enough to power a house and maybe sell a little power back to the power company.

That's what I'm talking 'bout. Maybe in a few years we'll see this type of technology cheap and available..........

-S.S.-

C.P. · Mar 29, 2005

bcd said:
my shop will be radiantly heated as soon as i have tiem to do the plumbing.
i have 9 3x8 panels for my 40x40 shop. i don't think i will need but 4 of them
the rest i am going to use for hot water system for my house.

http://bcdracing.com/pics/shop/shop.html

living in the country here in texas with no trees will be ideal for a wind
generator. i am going to be grid conected and still rely on them if my power
will not keep up. i have been looking all morning for info and have found
some good stuff.

with my composite knowlage i am going to make mine structure then buy
whatever else i need. i am thinking of using the four corners of my shop
for the stucture of the towers. i have a huge 2x3' footing. they units would
go another 15/20' above my shop. and would slide down the poles for mainanace. seems brakes and backup brakes is key for handling any storms
or big gusts.

found this guys site.

http://www.otherpower.com/

has some cool homade stuff

Very nice, good job with the web archive of the shop build. That's a very treeless area of the country - compared to what I'm used to seeing. I guess the only thing that comes to mind, is make sure you've covered yourself for lightning. With four "antennae" you could be prime target for a strike.
Somethin tells me after seeing the stuff you make - that we'll soon witness four carbon re-inforced towers with a carbon bladed wind turbine

Oh! also check out this map of avg year round wind in the states...After seeing this http://rredc.nrel.gov/wind/pubs/atlas/maps/chap2/2-01m.html
I'm not surprized there's talk of wind farm interest off of Cape Cod (just east of where I live) (Capewind)

JRB · Mar 29, 2005

I wonder where my cow fan thread is. Hrmmm.....

dhtahoe · Mar 29, 2005

You have all the skills you need to make your own I'm sure. Just do some reasearch and with your carbon you could make your own. I guess the key is the how good the blade design is. Most are carbon laid over a balsa wood core so there is a good start.

Curb Hucker · Mar 29, 2005

BCD Power Co. :blah:

Sandwich · Mar 29, 2005

dhtahoe said:
You have all the skills you need to make your own I'm sure. Just do some reasearch and with your carbon you could make your own. I guess the key is the how good the blade design is. Most are carbon laid over a balsa wood core so there is a good start.

erm, do you realize just how big those things are? that little blue thing way at the bottom in the picture, right at the base of the fan....that's an outhouse....these things are MASSIVE, almost megalithic...there are several near where i live, and i can't get over how big they are. you might be able to swing a couple of fans, but i doubt they'll make enough juice to power very much.

N8 v2.0 · Mar 29, 2005

SkaredShtles said:
That's what I'm talking 'bout. Maybe in a few years we'll see this type of technology cheap and available..........

-S.S.-

The cost is coming down but with the cost of natual gas running $7+ per MCF, the energy savings payback is still decades long. The cost of the 5kw unit would retail somewhere around $60,000. The company's goal is get the cost down to something like $2500-$3000 per kw.

The fuel cell tchnology has come a looooong way since the first unit I tested back in 97-2002. This was a 200kw unit and it was a monster. It also had a price tag in excess of $800,000.

Fuel cells and mico-turbines are the future of distributed generation.

stevew · Mar 30, 2005

Reminds me of Kyuss "Welcome to Sky Valley". Just add desert.

Psychic_Pimp · Mar 30, 2005

Here's an article about a guy installing a 4.2kw grid-tie solar-electric system for ~8k after rebates. As power rates rise, this scale of system shouldn't take too many years to pay for itself.

No batteries on this one, run off the grid when not generating. When generating it feeds the grid.

In many cases, the power company will not actually pay you for power dumped back to the grid but will credit you for it. Basically banking electricity for you for future use. They will supply an electric meter that runs both ways to track it.

article from Home Power magazine

Home Power mag home page

As petroleum goes away and power needs increase, distributed generation will get bigger and bigger.

ET_SoCal · Mar 30, 2005

I wuz expecting a (female) booty-call thread...
:mad:

does anyone here have a wind generator

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