wind turbine

[Sally]

I want to purchase a wind turbine. The manufacturer claims it produces up to 1700 KW . My total KWH for 30 days is 3,840. I am uncertain of the conversion, but How many of these turbines would I need to provide total electric for my house? Thanks for any help

[Guest]

I want to purchase a wind turbine. The manufacturer claims it produces up to 1700 KW . My total KWH for 30 days is 3,840. I am uncertain of the conversion, but How many of these turbines would I need to provide total electric for my house? Thanks for any help

1700 watts or 1700 kilowatts? 1700 W might be something you could erect for personal use. A 1700 kW (1.7 MW) turbine is a MAJOR project.

The GE 1.5 MW turbine is 253 foot diameter blades mounted on a tower with 230 foot hub height. It needs 30 mph winds to reach full power.

Kilowatt-hours are the product of the kilowatts you use and the hours you use them for. There are about 720 hours in a month, so your average load is 5.3 kW, but I'm sure you sometimes use more, sometimes less. You would need to assess your peak loads or decide whether to use a large battery complex to even the load.

The wind is also intermittant, and because it doesn't always blow at the strength needed for full power, the average produced over a year is MUCH less than the nameplate capacity of the generator, maybe only 20-30%, at a good site.

If you can sell unused power to the grid, you should probably consider installed capacity around 25 kW. Sometimes you will buy from the grid, sometimes sell to it, but it should about average out.

But first, you need a wind survey. It is not possible to make a good estimate of your situation without knowing the average winds and the variation or statistics of your winds over a year.

[Sally]

I checked. The wind turbine is 1700 Watts. Says it produces up to 1300 kw per month and the blades are 6 feet. Says also I need to buy a battery and mounting pole. I have 2 windy acres and understand that I won't always have full power but would like as much as I can get to support the load you described. We have a large family, using MANY appliances, the furnace, well pump and other items at great expense. (electric bill runs avg. $250 per month in addition to fuel oil for the furnace at $5675 per year) That is $8675 per year. I want to get rid of the oil furnace and use all electric. We need to curb costs to get these kids through college.I don't see us using less of these items and I have enough room and cause to warrant buying more than one turbine if needed. Without a wind measure and just an educated guess, how many turbines do you think I should consider for the load you described? Thanks for your response. Sally

[Guest]

I checked. The wind turbine is 1700 Watts. Says it produces up to 1300 kw per month and the blades are 6 feet. Says also I need to buy a battery and mounting pole. I have 2 windy acres and understand that I won't always have full power but would like as much as I can get to support the load you described. We have a large family, using MANY appliances, the furnace, well pump and other items at great expense. (electric bill runs avg. $250 per month in addition to fuel oil for the furnace at $5675 per year) That is $8675 per year. I want to get rid of the oil furnace and use all electric. We need to curb costs to get these kids through college.I don't see us using less of these items and I have enough room and cause to warrant buying more than one turbine if needed. Without a wind measure and just an educated guess, how many turbines do you think I should consider for the load you described? Thanks for your response. Sally

You may wish to look for a larger unit rather than multiple units in that size. Do you know what what wind is required for that unit to reach rated power?

My very rough guess is that you need 25 kW installed capacity. 25 kW/1.7 kW = 15 of those turbines.

Large commercial turbines, like the GE, generally require 14 m/s wind for full power. That is 30 miles per hour, what the National Weather Service calls gale force winds. MOST of the time, they are producing much less than rated power. The words "up to" are classic specsmanship. They are guarenteeing you won't get more, and the fact is, you won't get nearly that.

You need enough capacity that I wouldn't recommend proceeding based on salesman's promises. You need a wind survey and some reasonable guarentees about the number of kilowatt hours per year you can expect in the measured wind conditions. There are plenty of snake-oil salesmen who are glad to take advantage of people trying to be green.
(I don't do wind surveys, nor is wind energy my field of engineering, so I have nothing to sell you. I do have a general interest in alternative energy.)


Oops. Is the figure you gave before your present electric use, with oil heat? My estimate of 25 kW capacity is based only on the electric bill you mentioned earlier. If you wish to replace the furnace, you need a lot more. Do you have an idea how many gallons of fuel oil you use either per day or per month during the peak of winter (probably January).

As a rough guess, if you burn a gallon per hour on the coldest days of the year, you need about 37.5 kW of reliable electric heating. To generate that form intermittant wind, you may need another 150 kW or more of installed turbine-generator capacity.

But please understand, these are SWAGS, and your cost is going to be way too high to proceed on the basis of these estimates. You need a qualified engineer to review on site, and do a wind survey. His cost will be tiny compared to the total.

[FranciscoCook]

I want to purchase solar panels. The manufacturer claims it produces up to 1700 KW . My total KWH for 30 days is 3,840. I am uncertain of the conversion, but How many of these turbines would I need to provide total electric for my house? Thanks for any help

Hello friend I am trying to build small wind farm.. I am mainly unaware about the requirements.. I know thread is bit old but still you can help me out with some useful information. Waiting for reply thanks in advance:)