You’ve decided you want to cut the cord to the coal burning power company and power your house with clean wind energy. What’s next?
Before you shop there are some questions you need answered.
- What are your current and peak power needs?
- How can those needs be reduced through conservation?
- What are your wind resources? What is the average annual wind speed?
- Site analysis–What’s good and what can be changed to ensure wind flow through a generator? Where is the best location? How high do you need to go?
Once you’ve got these questions answered you’ll be ready to shop.
Your current and peak power needs can be assessed by looking at your electric bills from the last couple years and gauging your average use and your peak time use. If you’re installing wind power at your existing home these will give you a fairly accurate assessment since they’re based on your actual usage and habits. If you are installing your wind generator for a new home you are building then there will be inevitable differences but your current home’s bills will at least give you a place to start.
The size of the wind generator you’ll need will determine the stoutness of the tower needed. Those two things together will determine the bulk of the price you pay. This is where energy conservation becomes important. The more energy you can conserve the smaller the generator and tower you will need. When pricing generators you’ll find that this can make a considerable difference.
Determining your average annual wind speed is critical, but also difficult for the homeowner who can’t afford a properly done full scale and very expensive wind resource assessment. Prior to your assessment consult with your local municipality to ensure that there are no height or zoning restrictions on your chosen site.
There are some resources that are available that may allow a reasonable assessment of your site without that much expense. Most states offer the loan of an anemometer, which is a tool used to gauge wind speed. Local airports also have wind speed data available. The US Department of Energy has Wind Resource Maps that will help, as well as links to other resources such as state anemometer loan programs. Ideally you’ll want to collect data over a significant period of time but few people will collect data for the two or three years that will typically give the best idea of what wind is available.
Geological differences may cause one spot on your property to be windier than another. Trees and hills and mountains will change wind flow. Make sure to try different areas on the property to determine where the wind blows with the least obstruction.
Once you’ve determined that your average wind speed is greater than 8 mph and that a wind generator is worth the investment then you have all the information you need to start shopping for your home wind generator.