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Wind turbines, AKA wind chargers.

D

Doug in Illinois

Member
My power bill is getting a lot too high, the true cost is over twice what they claim for KWH once the junk fees are added in. There is an article in the current Popular Mechanics expressing concern that power being sold back to the power companies is at retail instead of wholesale, leaving no profit for the power companies. But, in my opinion the facility and line charges that are added to the basic charges should have that covered.
Back to the real question, I know to get a good windcharger with a good tower is going to be 10K or more by the time all is hooked up correct. I also know that the wind does NOT blow all the time. It blows enough in the winter that I think the meter would end up almost neutral.
Do any of you already have one and can give advice? DOUG
 
I know of a local welding shop that just put up two,some on here may have heard of them,Trout River Industries,they make belt unloading dump trailers.Anyways,they are 50 KW a piece at a tag of $400 000 a piece too.They are hooked up to the grid and reverse their meter when producing power,it it reverses it enough,they get paid for it.Anymore than that,I don't know.
 
Do you folks have programs for solar power/sellback (and the right location)?

Just curious. In my area, a lot of southing facing roofs are covered and one place that I've seen has a field full of panels.

Dave
 
I've looked into this also and found that its a state law that the power companies have to buy the power back from you. Now if i could only get the money to put a wind turbine up. I've talked with a dealer from Pittsfield,IL and he quoted 20K to get the turbine up and running
 
A few people around here have solar panels for domestic hot water or supplemental heating and are happy with it. That makes sense to me because it doesn't cost much, you use the energy when it's available, and you don't have to deal with the bureaucracy.

Unless congress increases the subsidies a lot more than what's already in place I don't see how you could come out ahead with small scale wind electricity generation. Solar panels to generate electricity will need even higher subsidies than wind.
 

My neighbor had about 1500 sq ft of panels with wiring and boxes and hooked up complete with a cost to him of about 10k bucks. Don't know if it will ever pay for itself or make a profit, but he's proud of it.
You can buy hot water solar setups at the HD equivelant starting at 2k for 2 panels w/ system and about 500 for each additional panel and write off the total cost at tax time. Real good deal here because you can hook it up to your existing boiler setup and your burner (oil) use is greatly reduced (as long as temps don't get too low.

Dave
 
I'm like you centrlilbaler, I've looked into wind turbines quite extensively. Just wished I had the money to set one up. I've added a link for the company that sells Skystream 3.7 units. They look like a pretty good model. On their website, you can find your closest dealer.

There is also a dealer in Iowa that sells them and sets them up.
www.prevailingpower.com
He has a special where he will set on up for $10.995. But that is with the tower that he builds himself. It's $3,300 more if a person wants the 33 ft.tower that are shown in most of the pictures at these websites.
I've called him a couple times and talked to him, I wanted to talk to someone that he has actually put one up for, but he won't give me any names.....makes me wonder about him???
I like to do some research before I throw $14,300 to someone.
Tom
nnalert Skystream Windpower
 
I used to work at a lumberyard that had it's own water powered generator. Yes, the power company had to buy the power they produced. The catch was the power company had to buy it at what it cost the power company to produce it! So if the company produced it at $.05 per KWh for instance, but sold it at $.50per KWh, all you got was the $.05.

Sweet, huh?
 
We"ve looked into it and with our past energy bills we could be making money in about 7 years. They wanted about 50k for a 10 kw wind unit. Our energy bill was about $700/month when we had the barns all full, at that price it wouldn"t take much to make it pay for itself.
 
A friend of mine has one about a year old.I don't know all the details,but his is 50ft tall and cost around 30 grand.He's not very happy with.I considered one but he said it was a big mistake.It doesn't generate that much power,and if in a good week it does overproduce enough to sell back to the power company they only pay wholesale price and charge other fees for accepting the power.
 
Yes, I have one, but I only put it in because I already had the necessary electronics in my 5250 watt solar-electric system. Otherwise, installing wind alone would not have been worth it. We only get good wind here in the early Spring.

In regard to the power companies buying back the power. In some states, e.g. Michigan, after every calendar year - if you made more power than you used - they keep the extra power and pay you back absolutely nothing. Here in New York, we still get paid, but just the KWH cost, they don't pay us any of those BS charges that we have to pay when we buy power.
 
Do a lot of research. I hear of a lot of bad machines, bad installers out there, just want to take your money.

Check state laws, check how local utility implements that law (some have a end of year payment deal that will 'getcha' on peak wind output, but not pay you for the excess you produce, pretty tricky....) and check fed tax issues - rebates sound good, but make sure what you do actually gives you a tax rebate.

Lot of info out there, not all of it is good.

Brother in law wants to put up 5 windmills on his 15 acres, figures it will be great, and the manufaturer says they work fine on a 30 foot tower.... And my BiL is at the end of the city airport runway too yet.... Sigh. One big windmill on a tall tower is way, way more bang for your buck, the tower is as important as the windmill. Do your research. Lot of money takers out there.

--->Paul
 
I have had a 45 kw for 7 years that I purchased from a good company from Gary, South Dakota.Last month I recieved a check for over 850 dollars.It was one of my better months.I sell all my power back because in Minnesota the power company is forced to pay you 1 cent below retail and then you recieve 1.5 cent credit for being a small producer.Would I do it again? I really don't know but its a nice hedge against the cost of electricity.
 
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