Are wind turbines worth it?

the O Reilly connection

I have an old cottage in the west of Ireland on the side of a hill close to the coast that is rarely used. There is a few acres surrounding it. It's ideal for domestic wind turbines but I'm not sure are they worth it.

I'm hearing exaggerated returns regarding their energy production. People are saying you can sell electricity back to the grid now so I'm reconsidering it. I was thinking maybe a 10kwh wind turbine to start and maybe another if the returns are good.

Do any of you have experience in this?

bullit_dodger

Wind generation is EXTREMELY dependent on location. By the rough sounds of it, you have a good location there being on the side of a hill close to the coast, but that in itself isn't always a garunatee. Ideally you want the turbine to be about 15+m up in unobstructed air. For example 5-10m above the roof of the cottage (Aside: building regs state you can't mount the turbine pole to a dwelling, so you'll need a seperate pole.

There's a good thread on this with a lot of comments. Wind turbine - Page 4 — boards.ie - Now Ye're Talkin'

I'd read that thread from the start.

You mention 10kwh turbine. Small point of units - it's 10Kw (no "h") which is power. The "kwh" (with the "h") is the amount of power it generates over time. For example, a 1kw turbine running for 10 hrs would generate 10Kwh in electricity. As for a 10Kw turbine, this is pretty big. Most turbines are 500w to 2Kw. Of course, you can get bigger ones, and they generally are more efficient, but the €€€ goes up.

Overall - solar is generally your best bet with generating power in Ireland. It's the avenue which will give you the best and quickest return on investment. Sure in winter solar is generally crap in Ireland, so there's a good solid 4-5 months where wind can help suppliment your solar. If I was you, and your wind/location is good....I'd probably look at something about 2kw turbine, and if that's a positive experience after 1-2 years, I'd go again with a 2nd unit.

the O Reilly connection

It looks as though wind turbines prices are designed so they don't leave you totally independent. Are you saying if you paid 50,000 euros on solar panels you would get your money back sooner than you would if it was a wind turbine you were spending that on?

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121068140#Comment_121068140

Yes, probably. The wear-out or failure-rate on wind turbines in gusty airflows can be quite high as the bearings and gearboxes take a beating, while with solar it's probably going to be less expensive to replace failed or damaged panels, etc.

At 50k investment though... that's some solar setup. Commercial size almost.

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121068202#Comment_121068202

Yeah, €50k is a huge investment and way outside the realm of even hugely enthusiastic people, unless there's some other background reason such as it's a farm etc.

Thing with solar though is that you'll always get "something" even on a cloudy day. As you scale upwards you will cover more and more of your usage as you expand your system. Most of us are probably in about the 7-8 months where the majority of the power we use will be covered by solar. Make it a huge solar and you could be looking at 10 months, but even on the months it doesn't cover it, you could still be looking at 40-50% or something.

Wind on the other hand if you got a 10Kw turbine in (which is big) and there's a high pressure system sitting on the country, you literally could produce 0Kwhr for days on end. Today being a good example. Not a puff of wind out there.

I think the interesting thing is if you have a good location to get a solid mid-sized solar installation (say 8Kwp) and then one or two wind turbines in about the 2Kw range. Should be under €15K I'd ballpark it.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121068140#Comment_121068140

It kind of depends on what your objective is. If you want to be grid independent (as in, you could cut the ESB connection and have power year round) then that is a very difficult task to achieve and requires significant investment and planning

If you're looking to make as much money as possible then ground mounted solar is probably your best bet, there's a few systems available or you can go the DIY route

If you're set on going with a wind turbine (or possibly both) then perhaps it's better to try and lease some of the land to a wind generation company, it's probably not the best return against the power generated but has the advantage of a fixed income and if something goes wrong with the turbine the it isn't your problem

One caveat, a lot depends on the local grid connection, commercial installers aren't going to pay ESBN a ton of money to upgrade the local grid unless it's for a large installation

Anyway, first thing to do is try and define the objective you want to achieve

the O Reilly connection

Where is the best place to buy these items?

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121076770#Comment_121076770

When you say "these items" what are you referring to. Solar panels, wind turbines, etc

Really unless you've a good solid electrical background, I wouldn't recommend trying to install yourself. Best line of action is to get onto some reputable installers and open a conversation with them. I really would go solar first though, maybe run that for a year and see how you get on, and only then start looking to see if a wind turbine or two would be benifical to your needs.

mp3guy

I spoke to https://mpe-online.ie/ in 2021. The only turbine worth considering are the SD wind ones.

Almost pulled the trigger but settled on more PV instead purely due to maintenance commitment concerns.

the O Reilly connection

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121077146#Comment_121077146

Both. I noticed on Ali Express and Amazon they're much cheaper but I'm not sure what the quality is like.

bullit_dodger

Virtually every advert you see for turbines on Ali Express over state the output. Saying you'll get 500w, but in reality you (might) get 30w. Solar's the top dog though. Here's a good educational video (from a engineer who works on these things)

(1171) Wind Turbines for Home: Is it Worth It? - YouTube

That said, there's a certain perversion that I would want to have a wind turbine myself, but in reality you'll probably make your money back quicker just buying more panels rather than adding a turbine.

steamdave

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121068202#Comment_121068202

If you are still thinking about a wind turbine, I would seriously consider a vertical axis machine. Theoretically they are not as efficient as horizontal axis turbines, but they are more reliable (no gearbox and simpler bearings). As stated above, gusty winds play havoc with the bearings as the blades hunt in the gusts. This is not a problem with VAWTs.

Maintenance costs will surely eat into any generation savings you hope to make compared to solar pv sytems. The greater reliability of the VAWTs will even up the effects of difference in efficiency.

Here's a link to a European manufacturer. Ignore the pics of a turbine on a house. Don't even consider mounting one on a building!

Dave

idc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101271#Comment_121101271

no link ?

the O Reilly connection

awesome. thank you