Any recommendations?

[Trendywendy]

Hi there, we’ve recently had a solar panel/battery system installed and we now wish to supplement it with a roof mounted wind turbine. We are thinking of a 1kw vertical axis one as we live in a rural area on a large bungalow estate. Has anyone done something similar that can recommend a turbine. There are plenty on the ‘Chinese’ sites but would like a UK or European produced one ideally.

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

Do some more research first, buy an anemometer and see what that tells you.
In short, unless you are in a single building on the top of a hill, wind power is a waste of time.
Wind turbines have a minimum wind speed before they generate anything of use, you will need this wind speed most of the time to make it viable, hence get an anemometer and see what the wind speed is where you are, being as you are on an estate the other buildings will reduce the wind speed (Yes, even up a pole) but like I said, find out for yourself and get an anemometer. You need to have a wind speed of 5m/second to be of any use. (Not forgetting, you will need this speed all of the time to be viable, and vertical wind turbines are less efficient than horizontal ones. The noise is not too bad, I have stood at the base of a huge one in an experimental park.

 

[binky]

oddly enough I have been looking into small domestic wind turbines to supplement my solar PV, and concluded they are a waste of money unless you have space and location for a larger unit and live in av ery windy place. The article below explins why they basically don't work for most people. It's all down to wind speed. Even at 5m/s your 1kW turbine will be generating more like 100W. If you have a stable block, are completely off grid and just need to charge up some batteries for lights of an evening, and occasional kettle boil, then they can offer something useful in conjunction with a couple of panels. If you look at Amazon reviews of the small turbines, you will find lots of comments of 'generates 50w at anything less than a gale'.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ethicalman/2009/12/why_micro_wind_turbines_dont.html

 

[roys]

There used to be a renewable energy forum called Navitron, it is no longer in existence but they came to the overwhelming conclusion that turbines attached to a house or building are a waste of money and actually nick named them chocolate teapots.
Several reasons for this some of them being:
Wind turbines need a clean sustained airflow to work with any sort of efficiency. Your building will disrupt the clean air flow.
They need to catch a lot of air, this means you have to be at the top of a hill.
Because they are a rotating machine they have vibration, this vibration may damage the fabric of your house.
They require maintenance usually annually.
From memory B&Q tried to sell house wind turbines about 12 or 15 years ago, they cost about £1k, they didn’t sell them for long because they didn’t work, I can only imagine they were all returned with people hoping to get their money back.
In summary don’t touch house mounted wind turbines as they won’t produce the goods.

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

You are almost right with the B & Q ones.
Back in 2006/7 they cost £1,500 including installation. The theory was you paid your money, you get a crew turn up and install it on a pole on your house.
What actually happened was a bloke turned up, does a survey and then disappears. You would then be told it is not suitable for your area.
B & Q believed they would sell thousands every year, but they did not do the figures. (There was a bit more to it, figures wise, but I can't remember) not to mention that you need a wind speed of 24/mph to make it work.
There was a video on YT all about a bloke (Reporter) who didn't get one.

 

[binky]

They require maintenance usually annually.
From memory B&Q tried to sell house wind turbines about 12 or 15 years ago,

They were called Windsave, Dave Cameroon made a big who has about having one fitted as part of his election campaign ' greenest government ever'! Then the **** slashed the Feed in Tariff, and trashed the Solar industry.

 

[Trendywendy]

Thank you all for taking the time and trouble to reply. So going forward, we will do a test with an anemometer and see what that tells us. My own basic research says that for this postcode we can expect average winter wind speeds of 6 mps. The modern turbines I’ve been looking at will start to turn (allegedly) at 3.5 and maintain turning at 2.5 mps. I’m hoping that as most anecdotes quoted seem to be historical, that technology has advanced enough to negate most of them now, but obviously I’ll keep researching. The cost effectiveness is less of an issue than the autonomy we hope to achieve. We welcome anymore insights you have to offer.

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

It would be nice if you were to let us know what the anemometer says the wind speed is where you are, also, what turbine are you thinking of getting?

 

[Trendywendy]

I’ve just put a query out on our village Facebook page asking if anyone has already taken this step or done the research. My original post was to ask for recommendations. I’ll update when Ihave something to report.

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

Thanks, it would also be nice to know what your FB group says, even if they say nothing.
I can't help but wonder, if you are in a village, could you not have a nice walk and see if you can see any wind turbines?
I already know there are none round here.

 

[binky]

Thank you all for taking the time and trouble to reply. So going forward, we will do a test with an anemometer and see what that tells us. My own basic research says that for this postcode we can expect average winter wind speeds of 6 mps. The modern turbines I’ve been looking at will start to turn (allegedly) at 3.5 and maintain turning at 2.5 mps. I’m hoping that as most anecdotes quoted seem to be historical, that technology has advanced enough to negate most of them now, but obviously I’ll keep researching. The cost effectiveness is less of an issue than the autonomy we hope to achieve. We welcome anymore insights you have to offer.

in that case just don't buy Chinese, it's Ok stuff, but european made gear will last longer. The other thing to perhaps consider is using 2 smaller turbines linked to the same inverter. I was looking at vertical units as these seem a little less imposing on the neighbours. Not sure were you would stand with planning permissions?

 

[Trendywendy]

in that case just don't buy Chinese, it's Ok stuff, but european made gear will last longer. The other thing to perhaps consider is using 2 smaller turbines linked to the same inverter. I was looking at vertical units as these seem a little less imposing on the neighbours. Not sure were you would stand with planning permissions?

Yes we’d already concluded that Chinese would most likely not be durable enough. 2 smaller turbines is worth a consideration. We can comply with planning consent as we are detached and not in a conservation area and what we are proposing is small scale. There is a brand which looked good called Tesup which is EU made allegedly - but doesn’t review well for after sales.

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

Never heard of them, I did a quick search, last time I checked Turkey is NOT in the EU (That's where the turbines come from) the reviews all said a similar thing, no turbine arrives, and those that did were falling apart, but I did like this review "took it to metal recyclers"

You still need to get an anemometer (Amazon starting at £14:00)

 

[revor]

I too have been looking at wind turbines and it seems there is more to it than at first appears. I have the space in a field and am at the highest point in my area and close to the sea facing the south westerly wind. Having been told it was a simple job of just connecting the turbine controller to the battery and me not believing this it became apparent after some digging it is rather more complicated if one has a Li battery as opposed to a LA one because of the LI battery BMS. So at moment more confused than ever. As for the original post of looking at ridge mounted turbines I would not risk damage to the house and there would be too much turbulence I would think. There is a YT video of guys in USA installing a number of small turbines on a roof of a shed or barn which seemed to work for them. So given right conditions an building looks possible.

 

[Trendywendy]

Thanks for all the input guys. It looks like a long term project getting the data from the anemometer and waiting for roof mounted turbine technology to catch up with the requirement needed.


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