Removal of the Wind Turbine....

A couple of months ago, I noticed the wind turbine had stopped producing electrical energy and so I took it down and had a good look at it.

It turned out to be a relatively simple fix, just to replace a drive key that had sheared on the gearing, but in the end I decided not to repair and re-erect it. 

So now it's languishing in pieces in the shed and workshop, the reason being it's simply not cost-effective for it to continue to operate - see my previous post.

I haven't totally given up on domestic wind energy though - I'd still like to design and construct another and larger experimental version of perhaps a combined Savonius / Darius vertical axis machine.

Watch this space for future developments....

Domestic Solar versus Domestic Wind ? Solar wins, every time....

I still see people on eBay bidding hundreds of pounds for 300W domestic wind turbines.  Some of the sales sites use terms such as '..free energy...' and '...save money...'. but these claims simply don't stack up....

Given that you can buy 170W solar panels on eBay for around £80 or so each, let's do a very simple comparison based on real data from my own experimental installations of both solar and wind (see my previous posts for more details on each).

Since 300W is a common-enough domestic turbine rating (based on a 1.4 m blade sweep), we'll do the numbers based on 300W. 

Let's assume that whatever installation materials / batteries / controllers / inverters / instrumentation / cabling etc you'd need for one system would cost exactly the same as for the other.

Let's also assume that you've bought your 300W turbine on eBay for £160, the same price as two 170W panels.  To make it even simpler, we'll also de-rate these solar panels to a combined 300W watt-peak output.

Going off-grid... Part 1 ... Musings on the possibilities....

Firstly, my apologies for what is quite a long post without any pictures to break up the text....one of the advantages of writing this blog is that, for potential major projects like this one, it focuses my ideas and also forms a written Design Basis & Facilities Description for me to refer to in the future, and is a basis for comparison after completion....

I think it would be very good for the soul if we could be totally independent of our electricity supplier and run the entire house off-grid.

How can this be achieved ?  Let's look at the possibilities....

Inside the Wind Turbine....

In 2009, after we returned from a spell of working overseas, I started designing and building an experimental wind turbine.

However, what with work, moving home and other commitments etc, it actually took well over two years to complete and erect the 'finished' operational unit, and during that time the basic design had also evolved significantly.

the turbine as currently configured...

  

The turbine has been up and running in its present location for most of this year, and so I thought we'd give you a brief description of the machine.....