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Alternative energy sources that are attached to grids do not make a lot of sense, due to the fact that you have to pay the energy company to resupply the grid.
It seems to me you don't really understand how this works. With a grid-tie system you feed electricity into the grid when you have excess power, and pull electricity from the grid when your own power doesn't meet current needs. For example, at night, when solar panels aren't generating any power, the lights you have on, and the TV, and the refrigerator are all being powered from the grid, and your meter rolls forward to record that usage.
Then during the day, when the solar panels are typically generating more power than you are using, the excess is fed back into the grid, and the meter spins backwards. End of the month you are billed for whatever you used in excess of what you generated, or receive credit for whatever you generated in excess of what you used, and also pay a minimum monthly charge for access to the grid. Here in Hawai'i that minimum charge is $10/mo.
A friend of mine used to pay about $350/month for electricity, then he installed a solar panel system and now he pays $10/mo. The difference he saves will pay off his system in about 6 years, and then for the next 20 or more years it's all money in his pocket.
It seems to me you don't really understand how this works. With a grid-tie system you feed electricity into the grid when you have excess power, and pull electricity from the grid when your own power doesn't meet current needs. For example, at night, when solar panels aren't generating any power, the lights you have on, and the TV, and the refrigerator are all being powered from the grid, and your meter rolls forward to record that usage.
Then during the day, when the solar panels are typically generating more power than you are using, the excess is fed back into the grid, and the meter spins backwards. End of the month you are billed for whatever you used in excess of what you generated, or receive credit for whatever you generated in excess of what you used, and also pay a minimum monthly charge for access to the grid. Here in Hawai'i that minimum charge is $10/mo.
A friend of mine used to pay about $350/month for electricity, then he installed a solar panel system and now he pays $10/mo. The difference he saves will pay off his system in about 6 years, and then for the next 20 or more years it's all money in his pocket.
Yes, decent explanation that I agree upon. I was merely addressing it depends on several variables.
I was merely addressing it depends on several variables.
Yes, it absolutely does. But so far about 400, 000 American homeowners have liked the numbers for their specific situations, and signed up for one alternative energy strategy or another. And the number is increasing, at an accelerating pace, for people who can make the numbers work for them. Wind has made the biggest impact on commercial sites, while solar PV has made the biggest impact for residential purposes. But if a workable wind powered system sized right for residential use becomes available... as this one appears close to being... it could swing the distribution.
This looks very interesting as a turbine concept. I need a lot more data on installed units to spend the money even if I could install one. The irony is my condo is located on a small hill with no nearby trees. This place is always breezy (one of its major attractions) and 20 ft. above the roof peak would be ideal. Talking my condo board into this would be very difficult. I may try anyway.
OpenD - A lot of power companies are going to a two meter system so that they can bend you over. You pay retail for the power you use and then what you put back you are only credited at wholesale... So you need to generate up to 1.5 KWH for every 1 KWH you use.
Making the meter spin backwards you are getting credit at the retail level. Which as a consumer I want...
BTW - Solar and other alt. power is getting the attention of wall-street.
I didn't think net metering was very common, but perhaps I've just heard the horror stories. I'm not talking about being credited whole sale and paying retail, which is a loss that I would anticipate and factor into any calculations, I'm talking about the power companies in states that gave them free reign saying, "We don't credit you for power received, Moderator cut: profanity".
The speed suggested is 11.18 MPH. For this to really gain in residential use requires a high capitalization rate because of uncertain maintenance costs creeping up. I think the price is far too high. I wish I had a bill around so I could check the KWH. I estimated 100/month for electricity, which if this could supply 50% (clearly I need the real numbers), would have generated 600$/year. Even then, if the figures they had included absolutely everything, I'd be looking at a capitilzation rate of around 11%. Assuming electricity goes up tied to inflation, it should average about 3% per year. If this turbine has absolutely no maintenance costs, and generated 600$/year, increasing by 3% per year, the annualized ROI would be 14% (11% cap rate + 3% growth). Since it's tax free, that wouldn't be a bad return. However, if it can not take hits from hail, that requires installing more protection. What will those maintenance costs be? How much effort will it take to have those maintenance procedures performed? IMO, due to the uncertainty it needs to have very high figures for ROI. Once we know maintenance costs, a figure such as 15% ROI after subtracting all costs may be reasonable.
IMO, for it to get there, it needs to be mass produced and sold in the windy areas. It needs to be on the shelf at Lowe's / Home Depot. Instead of shipping 7,000, in a year they would need to ship at least 700,000 to get the cost structure right. Retail they should be aiming to sell this thing for 2 to 2.5k. That more than doubles the ROI, and likely makes it a very reasonable investment for a home owner after adjusting for the cost of repairs. Additionally, it would fit very well into windy cities with sky scrapers, IE Chicago, where you could be installing them by the truck load. Unfortunately, there is still a limit on what percent of the power can come from them, because the utility company must be able to generate enough power to meet all demand, and wind power can still be quite unreliable.
Last edited by MissingAll4Seasons; 05-30-2014 at 02:34 PM..
Reason: removed profanity
I read the original article the 1500 KWH was on a per year basis so that would come to just a little over 100 KWH/mo My winter usage is far greater then that. That would not even run my gas furnaces for heat.
The unit is max rated at 200 Watts That is barley enough to run my 17" laptop rated 1.6 Amp @120 V. The problem with wind is the size needed to generate reasonable amounts of power. This design will not scale up very far before becoming too heavy and massive, and the production equipment might be too costly per unit sold.
The original wind farm pumps and their electric conversion units might still be the best small scale. The towers are easy to erect, and the motor housing (gearbox) is time proven. the wind vanes are easily replaced. Because of the high number of blades they capture a lot of wind power for conversion. Their towers are normally around 40' and the vane diameter is 9' or 12'.
It looks like just another manufacturer, trying to get noticed. They should have painted it bright pink!
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