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generates turbulence, and the vibrations from a turbine being affected by turbulent
air can be magnified through brick walls, creating a loud and annoying vibrating
sound.
All this means substantial foundations and framework for a turbine which can add
significant cost to a project. This height can also cause problems if you are planning
to mount a system close to neighbouring properties.
If you are planning to install a small turbine in combination with a solar electric
system, a smaller turbine that generates a few watts of power at lower wind speeds
is usually better than a large turbine that generates lots of power at high wind
speeds.
Small wind turbines can often be found on small leisure boats - the turbine
maintains the batteries whilst the boats are not in use. Boat owners have mixed
reports on their benefits: those who have the turbines mounted relatively low down
on the boat find they do not perform well at all - especially in busy marinas where
there are lots of boats around. Those who have the turbines mounted high up on a
mast report much better performance from their wind turbines.
Vitally important when installing a turbine system is the site survey. Accurately
measuring wind speeds at different locations throughout your site will ensure you
get the optimum performance for your system. The best way to do this is using a
professional wind power predictor tool that measures wind speed and turbulence
and allows you to predict the amount of power you can generate using wind power.
There are a number of wind turbine manufacturers around. Unfortunately, a lot of
the cheaper turbines - such as the type found for sale on eBay - are quite often
extremely heavy and have poor low-wind performance. The best turbines will
typically start spinning in a 5km/h breeze and will start generating electricity at
around 8km/h (5mph) whilst a lot of second-rate models won't start generating
electricity until they get a 20km/h (12mph) wind. The additional weight of these
cheap turbines mean you have to have significantly stronger mountings and the
extra cost of this will often outweigh the cost savings made by buying a cheap
turbine as opposed to a good one.
Wind turbines are an area where buying cheap is almost always a false economy.
Buying a good make, such as Rutland, Wren or Coemi will save you money and
ensure you have a reliable system in the long run.
Compared to solar, turbines are extremely location sensitive. Whereas most people
can implement a small solar array in most locations and achieve success, the same
cannot be said about turbines. Find the right site, and a turbine can be unbeatable.
Find the wrong site, and they can be a complete waste of money and time.
Photovoltaic solar
panels (PV)
4,304,221
577.5 (28,126,560)
Energy generated/year
(kWh)
7,890,000
162
19,971.59
226.8 (11,046,067)
4.64
70
Energy Balance
6.6 months
3.2 years
Energy Return on
Investment (EROI)
36.5:1
5:1
One wind turbine generated the same amount of electricity per kWh as about 48704
solar panels. To manufacture and maintain 48704 solar panels, 28,126,560 kWh
must be consumed. It took 23,822,339 kWh more to produce 48704 solar panels
than it takes to produce one wind turbine.
When comparing the amount of CO2 released per kWh during a wind turbine and
solar panel's life cycle, the wind turbine produced 4.64 grams of CO2/1kWh while
the solar panel produced 70 grams of CO2/1kWh. This means the wind turbine
released less CO2 than the solar panel to the atmosphere.
Energy balance is the amount of time needed to pay back the energy consumed.
The lower the pay back time, the sooner the machine starts producing energy that
is renewable. The wind turbine took only 6.6 months to repay its energy balance
while the solar panel took 3.2 years. Because the turbine took less time to repay its
energy balance, the turbine can then profit from the energy generated after its
payment.
Energy Return on Investment (EROI) is used to compare the quantity of energy
supplied to the quantity of energy used in supply process. The higher the ratio, the
less energy is consumed in producing the energy. The wind turbine's EROI is
approximately 36.5 :1 while solar energy has a EROI of 5:1. We can deduce that that
the wind turbines return more energy for a certain amount of energy invested.