Your utility can provide you with a list of requirements for connecting your system to the grid. The utility's requirements for connecting your system to its grid are not prohibitively expensive, and there is sufficient capacity to integrate your system.Utility-supplied electricity is expensive in your area (about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour).You live in an area with average annual wind speed of at least 9 miles per hour (4 meters per second).Grid-connected systems can be practical if the following conditions exist: They can also operate during power outages when configured to work in tandem with storage to form a home microgrid to provide back-up power. Modern grid-connected wind turbines will operate only when the utility grid is available. When the wind system produces more electricity than your household requires, the excess is credited and used to offset future use of utility-supplied power. If the turbine cannot deliver the amount of energy you need, the utility makes up the difference. A grid-connected wind turbine can reduce your consumption of utility-supplied electricity for lighting, appliances, electric heating and cooling, and vehicle charging. Small wind energy systems can be connected to the electricity distribution system. A professional installer should help you determine the tower height you will need. The height of a wind turbine's tower also affects how much electricity the turbine will generate. Because energy efficiency is usually less expensive than energy production, reducing your home's electricity use will probably be more cost effective and will reduce the size of the wind turbine you need. A 1.5-kilowatt wind turbine will meet the needs of a home requiring 300 kilowatt-hours per month in a location with a 14 mile-per-hour (6.26 meters-per-second) annual average wind speed.Ī professional installer will help you determine what size turbine you'll need. Depending on the average wind speed in the area, a wind turbine rated in the range of 5–15 kilowatts would be required to make a significant contribution to this demand. Small wind turbines used in residential applications typically range in size from 400 watts to 20 kilowatts, depending on the amount of electricity you want to generate.Ī typical home uses approximately 10,649 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year (about 877 kilowatt-hours per month). If you have a long wire run, it is advisable to invert DC to AC. Your wire run losses are greater when you have direct current (DC) instead of alternating current (AC). Using more or larger wire will also increase your installation cost. A substantial amount of electricity can be lost as a result of the wire resistance-the longer the wire run, the more electricity is lost. Whether the system is stand-alone or grid-connected, you also will need to take the length of the wire run between the turbine and the load (house, batteries, water pumps, etc.) into consideration. If your tower is guyed, you must allow room for the guy wires. When siting be sure to leave enough room to raise and lower the tower for maintenance.
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