Wind Turbine is up and runnung

It's been a while since my last post on the wind turbine project. With some help from a couple of students and Prof. Hofmyer, From SUNY Morissville the Skysteram 3.7 is up and running with no glitches other than once you have one you want the wind to blow endlessly. That doesn't happen. We had to hussel to beat this weeklong dose of winter. It went up in the rain Tue. the 30th. As you can see assembly is very easy, and we establish wireless comunications between the computer and the turbine before it is tilted up in place. That way we know that all wiring and systems are corectly installed. The tower has a leveling chip that we install to tell us on the computer when the top flange of the tower is perfectly level. That is critical so that the turbine can yaw with the wind from all directions. As of this afternoon it has been making 4.44KWH per day average. Peak day so far 12.3 KWH 24hr. period. The other ones That I have installed in better locations have had 1 day highs of 23Kwh per day, thus far.

I am ignorant on this subject. So what does an average home use?

Do you have extra to sell back to the elec. company?

Looks neat!

Gene

I was wondering how that came out for you. Looks good, any town zoning problems? I guess its a touchy thing here in Duanesburg. Any way from what the weather says were gonna be in for some windy, cold conditions the next few days. Its 12 here right, with a low of below 0.. Good luck and stay warm. J

Iuse about 30KW per day up here in SD, 1 person, small home.

What do you think the cost would be for original install plus maintenance/repair, for 10 years?

Gordo

Gene; Get your electric bill out and study it and you will answer your own question. There should be a bar graph showing your last 12 months of usage, plus a block showing your average daily killowatt consumption. Most homes use more than this turbine is producing. That's why we are adding 2300Ws of PV next spring. Anyone who thinks they can make money overproducing electricity to "sell Back" to the utility to make money is going to be saddly disapointed. (sell back $.03?/ KWH--- Buy $.12?/KWH). First find ways to reduce your consumption, (turn off lights behind your self, buy energy efficient appliances and heating equip.) Then if so inclined, buy a renewable generation system that will produce -100% of your current consumption, if the budget allows. First thing you need to determin is if you have suficient resources of sun, wind, or water. That's your fuel. Limited fuel, limited energy production. Renewable fuels, unlike fosil fuels are unpredictable. A gal. of oil or a # of coal have a known BTU output to power a heater or generator. We can't make the wind blow at 15MPH for 10 hrs each day or force the sun to shine 10hrs. at max intensity every day. Hydro is more predictable with only seasonal changes in energy potential, but only a few people have a good source of flowing water. The whole renewable industry is based on educated guesses, rather than known mathimatical equasions, relating BTUs to energy production. Many of those who invest in renewables are also conserned with the enviroment as well as economic gain when in this scale of energy production. Comercial Wind Electric generation is a totally different animal. Huge amounts of money are spent on years of testing and documentation when siting a wind farm. The power tipically goes to City Centers where there will never be anything but increased consumption.

How much did the whole thing end up costing including wire and everything to house?
Thanks Jeff.

That seams very high for 1 person, but if you have a shop with welders ,compressors etc. that is understandable. If you dont have these tools I would start looking at ways to reduce consumption, unless this is an all electric house.

Total turnkey install $19,500.00 Bear in mind we ran AWG 4 wire rather than #6 because of the 2300W PV system going in next spring and also a larger load center/combiner box at the turbine fondation. We also include all the bells and whisels. Davis Vantage Vue weather station, Sky Level tower leveling program, Sky View wireless monitoring software, and a notebook computer to monitor everything rather than tieing up space on the home computer. Here in NY we have a 25% tax credit and waiver of state sales tax. Feds offer 30% tax credit. There is also NYSERDA grant money available on aproved sites having average wind speeds of 10MPH or more. that amounts to about $2500-3000.00 depending on tower height, wind speed and turbine. This site didn't qualify for the NYSERDA grant. (NYSERDA is a NYS run burocratic agency ) This customer will end up with a net expense of about $8,800.00, but may have to carry forward the credits for more than 1 year.

Yes, pretty much all elec. Elec heat. water heater, dryer. Yard lights, shop compressor, battery chargers, 10 200 watt lights in shop. Well. But on the plus, no water bill, no garbage bill, 40 dollars a month car gas bill, 32 mpg Geo Tracker 4WD Wagon. Diesel bill for Dodge summer only.

Jay, your Head of code enforcement Dale Werner is a great guy to work with. Don't see any problems there.

Depending on the tax bracket, different states and fed allowances I don't see this thing paying for itself in less than 12 years. And how much will it cost per year over 25 years to maintain?

Gordo

My electric bill was 6 bucks a month in the early 50s .I think we have gone nuts.

At this time - I can't see as it would be worth the investment.
My neighbor put one up about a year and a half ago at his business. Almost 300' tall and I think 1.5 KV. Already he has problems He said it has become outdated and needs a $ 1/4 Mil. up grade.
He did a lot of research before he started.

Yes Dale is a great guy and great building inspector, I think its some town zoneing law from what Iv heard, nothing of Dales doing. I heard the town super had made remarks about windmills, you know Rene....

If you dont mind saying, I was wondering what commercial building you built here in Duanesburg? The one you said you got the slate outa. J

Hay Gordo You are about wright on the payback. One thing that I find strange in this renewable industry is everyone is consern about pay back. What is the payback on a new 3/4 Ton PU, or buying a hybrid car, or a new 25HP diesel Lawn mower, or a Boat. When will a high efficiency furnace start paying back.I'm not picking on you, but this issue seams to be more important to people contemplating renewable energy equipment than other items. The fact is everyone can get instantanious payback by just reducing their consumption in simple ways, and they don't even have to spend a dime. Many could save $20.00 a week by eating the food they buy rather than throwing it in the garbage.

JHE The big red building on south side of 20 east of I88 interchange.

I cant place it right now, Im thinking of Carson trucking, or further down the rental equipment guy, Joe. Oh well.

In NY, if a person receives the NYSERDA grants the dealer is required to maintain the unit with full warranty for 5 years, and they won't qualify for the 30% federal tax credit if not warranted for 5 years. Sounds like his research came up a little shy.

If it takes 12 years for an investment to pay for itself, that is less than a 6%/year return. In most cases, if you had to borrow money to put up the wind turbine, it would never pay for itself, it would only pay the interest on the money you borrowed.

I invested $45K in the market when it was at it's low. One year later my investment was worth $60K and it continues to go up. I don't see how anyone can consider 6% return an investment. GREEN to me is the color of money.
George

Isent that called a carbon footprint? Saving is so easy. But waste is eaiser for some??

Saw pictures of big windfarm in western Oklahoma on TV must have been fifty os them all standing still. NO WIND IN WESTERN OKLAHOMA TO TURN THEM FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS Millions invested and farm land tore up plus transmission lines running across the state
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