Micro wind turbines

SouthWesterly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120360419#Comment_120360419

Where did you buy it?

unkel

@samdeluxjones - How many kWh do you expect it will make roughly per year?

Fantana2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120360419#Comment_120360419

Okay so in line with panels then. Sounds like a very complimentary energy source with solar.

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120362124#Comment_120362124

Yeah, and to follow on from that.....is there like a wind version of PVGIS that would give you an estimate of units/month based on location.

(It's more of a general curiosity to me)

samdeluxjones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120364276#Comment_120364276

https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap

Pick a location, pick a station and look at its stats.

samdeluxjones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120362096#Comment_120362096

https://en.istabreeze.store/

samdeluxjones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120363118#Comment_120363118

It is for the winter months, but yesterday was very overcast, very windy 30kmh and wet yet the panels were generating more than the turbine between 9 and 3. 6kW panels 350-500W, turbine 200-400W. Panels made 3.1kW yesterday and the turbine is heading for another 7kW in 24 hours 9am-9am again today. I'll post results after 9.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120364888#Comment_120364888

So roughly any idea what you'd make in kWh per year? I won't hold it against you if you are 50% off either way 😁

SD_DRACULA

Come on @unkel you know you want to put 2 or 3 of these up above your shed and do some testing for us, you know want to and the sunsynk does have turbine inputs 😉

samdeluxjones

9am to 9am yesterday and today 30kmh 18mph 8m/s so very consistent with last 24hours with similar winds.

Almost same reading as the inverter when I knew the solar wasn't charging the battery.

samdeluxjones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120362124#Comment_120362124

Based on 2 weeks readings? I reckon I have made 30 odd kW in last 2 weeks. Say this is typical for 6 months 360kW for the winter and probably half that for the other 6 moths so 540kW for the year at a very rough estimate.

My 6kW array made 7020kW last year. So if I upped my wind to 6Kw it would roughly make 1500kW

My 6kW panels produced 2010kW in the winter months last year so 6kW wind would theoretically produce 1080kW

This is very rough guessing but I have a meter installed and will be recording from now so towards the end of the year will be able to give a much better estimate.

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120365075#Comment_120365075

Awesome job man. One of the few "success stories" on wind I've seen here on the forums. Out of interest, if you could publish the monthly stats like many of us do here for the Solar PV, I know I'd (and many others) be super keen to follow you on the journey!

unkel

Great job and looking fantastic. At the same time it shows us not to bother, even if you have a perfect location, buy the most competent turbine, buy parts at reasonable prices and fully DIY...

Because 500kWh even at a generous 20c per kWh is about €100 per year. The turbine cost you €2500 in parts alone so even with zero maintenance and a lifespan of 25 years (forget about both), it will never pay for itself. As a hobby, it's cool though!

graememk

Also, as it's all DC there's no issue of extra inverters and esb limits

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120364851#Comment_120364851

Thanks but I was more interested in knowing if there was a site out there that gave monthly estimates (similar to PVGIS) rather than instantaneous value. E.g. I have a 2Kw Instabreeze turbine, at this location I will generate 50Kwh in Jan, 45 Kwh in feb etc.

I'd doubt that there's one out there, but perhaps I'm wrong?

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120365075#Comment_120365075

I salute you!! I dunno about the break even never happening. Sadly I feel energy prices are rising in the longer term. 40 years of gas reserves left. If people have huge batteries they can fill using cheap night rate. But most of us don’t.

If the turbine that saves you on day rates or the higher peak rate TOU units (and we’ll all have them in the future on smart meters), that’s a lot more than the 20C for FIT. A 24hr tariff is 40C+ now. The TOU peak rates can be 70C+ for a 2 hour window. Ok, there’s no way to know what the spread will be, but it won’t all be export.

We’ve all said it before. There is no financial ROI on a car, cobble locked driveway, holiday. Micro gen is the only thing in my house that could have an ROI. My kids are an ROI of hundreds of years :)

SD_DRACULA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120365354#Comment_120365354

Pretty sure kids never ever pay for themselves unless Ronaldo/Messi 😂

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120366220#Comment_120366220

I'll break even alright on my kids, just need to live to 2250. They will leave college probably in about 50 more years. Don't want to join the workforce too soon :)

samdeluxjones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120365284#Comment_120365284

Go to any month you want on any weather station you want and count what days are 25-35kmh which should produce 7kW in 24hrs

For example if I go to my May 2022 there are 14 days in that range so 14X7=56kWh I would have made last may if I had a turbine installed.

samdeluxjones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120365354#Comment_120365354

Every little helps, if I have 3kW in my battery every day during bad weather for that peak rate offset the payback gets a little quicker then..

samdeluxjones

The positive response I've got from everyone about the turbine since it went up is unreal, everybody wants to know all about it, a lot wish they had one and always wanted one. Almost everyone I have spoken to in the last 2 weeks is asking about it.

It's not gonna solve climate change and probably will never pay for itself (someone once said that about my panels, 5 years I reckon now) but If this power cut that was predicated last year or something similar ever happens I know for a fact I will have power no matter what the weather and that's peace of mind.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120369076#Comment_120369076

I have to say im still tempted, having Touched on it a few times.

Do you just have it mounted on a 4" Galv pipe?

7kwh in winter would be nice, Still having a hard time justifing. I nearly have enough solar to cover me 24x7 now in mid march. (except for car charging, and 7 kwh wouldnt make much of a dent in that!)

What happens when the batteries are full?

This was my wind in Jan

Wish you all the best with it!

samdeluxjones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120369133#Comment_120369133

Yea so 14 days 25kmh+ is 100 odd kW and it was a very mild January and December in comparison to recent years, hardly a storm to be seen.

My December solar 174kW, January solar 210kW. A stormy Dec & Jan could half that solar and potentially produce 280kW from wind.

I went 6" pipe 6.5mm walls bit of overkill but warnings of resonance failure made me go big.

bullit_dodger

With your land and location Graeme I'd be on it like a tramp-on-chips :-)

Break-even for €2-3K wouldn't be a concern to me. Sure, no one (incl me) wants to waste money, but there's more to this than return on investments and payback timelines. The selling point to me would be that you can get real usable power to do useful things like washing, tumble dryer etc. as opposed to those Chinese jobbies (like that vertical axis one that appears in all the pop up adds) which can charge a phone. Maybe. Sure it's a nice project to get working but usable power is what I'd be looking for.

With the right hardware, location, knowhow and a willing to take a risk.....it can be a very nice complement to solar, especially in those dark Nov-early March months where it's not cost effective to "go mental" on panels for minimal gains. I kind of like the concept of heating a room with wind.

Love that project you've got going Sam. Nice one.

championc

Apart from the Toys for Watts guy on YouTube, this is the first real confirmation that these Ista Breeze units do what they say on the tin. That's what we've all been missing. But we all know to stay away from Chinese knockoff's for this particular component anyway

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120369655#Comment_120369655

Its complicated lol.

Where Id need to put it to have access to batteries etc is very close to the house/edge of our land (house on one side of the road, rest of farm is across the road!). Wouldn't be worried about complaints from any neighbours though.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120369570#Comment_120369570

A 6" pipe would be very stable, We use 4" for hanging gates.

How deep do you have it buried? (or how high above ground level?)

Dec for me was 170kwh, Jan was 232kwh, An extra 100-200kwh would be very nice in the dark days.

bullit_dodger

Well the turbine output I believe is AC, so you could have a fairly long run cable from that to the bridge rectifier without the drop off/loss that would ensue with a heavy DC cable........course you may have to dig a long trench , but just a thought.

samdeluxjones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120369921#Comment_120369921

I have it bolted to RSJ balcony pillar, it's only clearing my roof by 2m so northerly winds may not be as clean as southerly which are prevailing.

THE ALM

Interesting to see the figures for the second half of the week, looking like some strong winds.

Really great to see actual figures so thanks for keeping us informed.

samdeluxjones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120378710#Comment_120378710

No worries. looking at that toys for watts guy and he seems to get 7kWh in 11 odd hours in extremely high wind and shag all before and after.

I have 7kW before I got the meter 2kW odd before I reset it weekend before Paddy's weekend and 21kW since so 29kW this month so far. That's well above my daily usage this time of the year with minimal heating. If I get another 10 kW in next 10 days it will equate to 3 free days a month supplemented by solar(my import these days is 10-15kWh).