not enough wind????

[RockyToggRanch]

I emailed a wind power company over a month ago. They finally called this week and the guy says he looked at a map and doesn't think we have enough wind here :/

I'm near (12 miles) lake Ontario....on a hill in the woods. The wind knocks out our power lines all the time. I think I need a 2nd opinion.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Not enough? Or did he maybe mean: not enough consistently?

 

[lwheelr]

Invite him out to fly a kite with you...

 

[RockyToggRanch]

He was looking at a map...IDK.. He spoke with DH. I'm not expecting to go off the grid with a single wind turbine. I would like to be able to have some power during storms (windy) and suppliment our energy on breezy days.

If I lose power I have no water:/ Power outages here are almost always wind related. The lines run through the forest.

 

[patandchickens]

You can't count on being able to use a turbine during storms, they have max rpm ratings and will ship their blades and shut down if wind speed gets too high. (e.t.a well I don't know whether small ones actually ship their blades but there is a clutch or brake or something like that, to prevent damage to the system, that makes them not useful in big wind)

It is quite possible you *don't* have all that much useful wind. However if you want to know how much you do have -- i.e how much battery charging you *could* do, to supplement things or for grid-outage use, you could pay for a site survey, they can put up a temporary tower with a thingie at the top to measure your actual wind over the period of a season or longer. It costs money tho.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[RockyToggRanch]

I do expect it to be costly to get set up. I expect to need a taller tower to reach above the trees. I assume we'll need some pretty hefty storage ability. I just don't think the rep should have said, without even coming out, that it wouldn't work.

We live in an area that isn't wealthy...I have to wonder if that has something to do with his decision. Perhaps he didn't want to waste his time?

He did try to sell us solar panels though....why didn't his map show him that we can get 11 ft of snow in a month? That we measure in feet here....3 inches per hour isn't unheard of..lol.. Sure, sign me up for solar panels.


ETA...I didn't know that they shut down in high winds...thank you.

 

[Marianne]

I hear ya, RockyTogg. We have a hard time getting anyone to come out to our place and it's not like we're totally in the boonies. I left three messages for a guy to come out and talk about a water geothermal system. Never got a call back. We bought an old, really run down homestead, but tore down the old house, built a new home, etc etc. I'll always wonder if he thought we were just living in the old house. The guy couldn't get to the neighbors fast enough when they called the following year.

We checked out wind turbines over a long period. We finally decided just to build a few VAWTS ourselves as time permits. Even though they are less efficient, they keep on charging in high winds.

 

[AmericanHomesteader]

The one i purchased said it starts charging in a 5 mph breeze, its a 5 blade model. look at the gudcraft line of genny's

 

[Marianne]

The one i purchased said it starts charging in a 5 mph breeze, its a 5 blade model. look at the gudcraft line of genny's

Are you satisfied with that line?

 

[FarmerChick]

on wind be sure your permits allow it in your zoning.

I have 'height issues', 'noise' issues etc when it comes to my area and wind power.