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Wind turbine a better option than solar pv?

  • 24-09-2019 10:45pm
    #1
    mickdw
    Registered Users Posts: 23,256 ✭✭✭✭


    Just from lookong around online, is there an argument for wind turbines over solar pv. Now i realise that they might not suit people on small plots etc byt where one lives out in the country with all the space in the world and even more wind, is it a better option?


Comments

  • #2
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Have you an average uninterrupted windspeed of ≥5m/s at hub height at your site?


  • #3
    mickdw
    Registered Users Posts: 23,256 ✭✭✭✭mickdw


    Sir Liamalot wrote: »
    Have you an average uninterrupted windspeed of ≥5m/s at hub height at your site?

    I couldnt answer that but id imagine we would get good readings here.


  • #4
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Maybe viable if yes (you have wind, don't spend too much on the turnip)

    Not viable if you don't.

    >7m/s get a good turnip, it'll pay and has it's work cut out for it.

    Hugh Piggott DIY builds are better than any you can buy with the exception of a proven/kingspan.
    As much as I've seen and tested.


  • #5
    unkel
    Registered Users Posts: 64,702 ✭✭✭✭unkel


    Basically, the answer is no.

    Unless you live somewhere remote on the top of a hill with extremely good wind speed readings and you are an extremely high electricity consumer and you don't mind spending €10k+ on the setup (no subsidies) and have substantial maintenance costs. Or if you are willing to do some serious DIY.


  • #6
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    and then there's the tin-foil wearing neighbours to worry about....oh and the bats....PV, more insulation, heat pumps, more insulation, hydro, wind....I'm still working on PV...
    I'll have to buy a field next door to develop wind and hydro...tbh I don't think I'll ever use as much lecky as the capital investment costs. Maybe I can make it back with youtoob adcents...that seems to be the driving force behind most of tinternet pioneers.


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  • #7
    mickdw
    Registered Users Posts: 23,256 ✭✭✭✭mickdw


    unkel wrote: »
    Basically, the answer is no.

    Unless you live somewhere remote on the top of a hill with extremely good wind speed readings and you are an extremely high electricity consumer and you don't mind spending €10k+ on the setup (no subsidies) and have substantial maintenance costs. Or if you are willing to do some serious DIY.
    I have the remote part on my side. Wind should be quite strong - north west mayo looking at the Atlantic.
    Pv seems expensive even with an grants. Just thought I'd ask the question as I figured maybe pv was popular due to being more suited to small housing plots in cities compared to turbines.


  • #8
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Oddly enough PV is lots cheaper when you don't bother with the grant.
    Buy Hugh Piggot's book It's the best investment you can make to begin. After that a data logging anemometer.

    My 1kW DIY palette board racking system ground array cost me ~ €0.50 per watt installed.
    ...I'll fancy it up later.


  • #9
    unkel
    Registered Users Posts: 64,702 ✭✭✭✭unkel


    mickdw wrote: »
    Pv seems expensive even with an grants.

    PV has become very cheap in the last year or so. A 300W panel retails for not much more than €120. It's possible to get it a lot cheaper than that if you are commited to eBay searches. An install is simple and doable even for someone with very basic DIY skills like me. I remember you posting about doing up Rover 75 cars as a hobby, so you are well within this realm

    Issue of course is that the vast majority of your PV production will go back to the grid unused by you

    Since my 3.8kwp install in February, I have produced nearly 3,000kWh and I have used no more than 1,000kWh of that

    It is quite possible / likely that we will get a feed in tariff (FIT) soon enough, so we will get paid for every kWh send back to the grid...

    And it's no bad thing to do your bit. I literally spent only a couple of grand and I already produce more electricity than I consume. For decades to come. Apart from charging my EV car.


  • #10
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Overproduction is not the solar panels fault. It's aspect, load demand and array sizing. Consult your installer for a more optimised power production curve.
    You do not require a battery to resolve it.


  • #11
    thos
    Registered Users Posts: 574 ✭✭✭thos


    I don't buy this PV vs Turbine, in an ideal world they would be complimentary.

    Are there viable domestic off the shelf solutions available in Ireland today?

    Is there anyone doing a true 'hybrid' inverter, fed with both solar and turbine, and charging the same set of batteries?


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  • #12
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Output cannot exceed input.


  • #13
    Idbatterim
    Registered Users Posts: 17,840 ✭✭✭✭Idbatterim


    Just came across these on eBay and they are based in Ireland , your neighbors will love you !

    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wind-Turbine-Towers-33-Metres/173987719179?hash=item288279e80b:g:zxMAAOSwMkJdSIVT


  • #14
    air
    Registered Users Posts: 2,822 ✭✭✭air


    thos wrote: »
    I don't buy this PV vs Turbine, in an ideal world they would be complimentary.
    They do compliment each other well, especially in our climate and at our latitude.
    thos wrote: »
    Are there viable domestic off the shelf solutions available in Ireland today?
    Financially viable? No.
    thos wrote: »
    Is there anyone doing a true 'hybrid' inverter, fed with both solar and turbine, and charging the same set of batteries?

    Not that I'm aware of. There wouldn't be much demand for such a product.

    Even from a redundancy point of view it wouldn't make any sense.
    Wind turbines get hit by lightning occasionally for example. If you had a single inverter you're now in the dark.

    Wind just isn't suitable for domestic generation for the average home owner in my opinion. It's only financially viable if you're off grid.

    There are major civils, maintenance and operational headaches and it just doesn't scale down effectively in the same way as PV.

    I would love a turbine myself if I lived somewhere suitable but I could only justify it as a hobby interest.


  • #15
    rolion
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,362 ✭✭✭rolion


    air wrote: »
    They do compliment each other well, especially in our climate and at our latitude.


    Financially viable? No.



    Not that I'm aware of. There wouldn't be much demand for such a product.

    Even from a redundancy point of view it wouldn't make any sense.
    Wind turbines get hit by lightning occasionally for example. If you had a single inverter you're now in the dark.

    Wind just isn't suitable for domestic generation for the average home owner in my opinion. It's only financially viable if you're off grid.

    There are major civils, maintenance and operational headaches and it just doesn't scale down effectively in the same way as PV.

    I would love a turbine myself if I lived somewhere suitable but I could only justify it as a hobby interest.



    Can't quote your quote,sorry.

    There are a lots of offers from the continent that does supply and fitting of the turbines in Ireland. Search online and you find Irish owners posting clips of their systems on YT.

    A wind turbine is very viable if and only if you want to live isolated in offgrid mode or forced to do so due to high costs of running a cable from the main lines supply,cables that despite you are paying for runing them,you still not own it.
    I know lots of cases where owner was better of financially installing a turbine than pay for the transformer and laying gorund cabling.
    But not in Ireland,mainly on the continent there are few isolated "off the system" humans that have done this system.
    Small enough to constant generate 500W-1,000W and charge in the background few batteries.

    The turbine is not legal approved ,not financially viable in a typical small estate.

    I did spent few weeks playing with the idea and trying few VAWT just to find that i am getting burned.I have opened a DIY tread somewhere around here with shared info and few setups.
    My next project is using a LEAF and fitting 4 VAWTs on the "regenerative breaking" solution.It will complement the 2 PV trackers and few L24 batteries. I'm being quoted €15k to run cables and fit a new down converter transformer.

    Keep studying,keep searching,look for options.


  • #16
    Idbatterim
    Registered Users Posts: 17,840 ✭✭✭✭Idbatterim


    Lads The family home is a period home. Two very big chimney stacks protrude from the flat concrete roof. Must be 14m high from ground to top of chimney. Would putting a few kw wind turbine on the side of the chimney , be a better option than pv?


  • #17
    air
    Registered Users Posts: 2,822 ✭✭✭air


    Idbatterim wrote: »
    Lads The family home is a period home. Two very big chimney stacks protrude from the flat concrete roof. Must be 14m high from ground to top of chimney. Would putting a few kw wind turbine on the side of the chimney , be a better option than pv?

    Only if you would prefer those chimneys on your lawn :)
    Building attached wind turbines do not have a happy history.


  • #18
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Resonance.
    It's like living inside a washing machine.


  • #19
    mickdw
    Registered Users Posts: 23,256 ✭✭✭✭mickdw


    Idbatterim wrote: »
    Lads The family home is a period home. Two very big chimney stacks protrude from the flat concrete roof. Must be 14m high from ground to top of chimney. Would putting a few kw wind turbine on the side of the chimney , be a better option than pv?
    Chimney wouldn't really be capable of taking increased wind loading.
    A turbine by its very nature will put a significant force onto the chimney if it's to get any power out of the turbine.
    Not a good idea at all.


  • #20
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    WSU_WEB_WIND_SITING.gif


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