Wind Turbine Sizing

Just as you would when installing any sort of renewable energy system for your home or business, you’ll need to figure out your energy use before you can really determine just what type of Wind Turbine is required. Sizing is a matter of budget, local conditions and your power use.

First, you’ll want to figure out just how much wind you get at your location. It is useful to spend at least a year at a location to get a good idea of the wind conditions throughout the year. It may be that the winds fail each year when you need power the most. Some areas are very crowded, and the size of the wind turbines you can use is limited by the length of pole that required to hoist them high enough to actually capture regular winds. You should also be able to get local wind information going back for several years from the National Weather Service station in your area.

The calculation of wind turbine size vs. your energy usage is less important for systems tied to the electrical grid than when attempting to use wind to go off-grid completely. In such situations, people usually use a combination that includes a series of generators with different sizes of wind turbines and solar panels. Wind power from a single generator will rarely be able to provide more than about 5kW, or between about a quarter and a half of the average American home.

When using wind turbines to connect to the utility company, size is less important for supplying your daily energy needs since the wind power system must be trouble free and sturdy. This will add the price of a grid tie inverter to your system, but also means you won’t need banks of marine batteries to store and condition the current for a home inverter.

If the energy is used to drive a pumping system as in agricultural and ranching operations, or even to bring fresh water to your own home, you’ll have to check very carefully with the pump manufacturer to make sure you match the right pump to the right wind turbine and system.

The graphs and calculations involved in wind turbine sizing can seem complicated, but they’re not really that bad. If you still feel like you’re out of your element, you can always hire one of the growing number of engineering professionals that specialize in home based renewable resources to make and guarantee the calculations for you.