Wind turbines can be large or small scale and indeed, on land or off shore. The turbine operates by the large blades catching the wind and the rotation of the blades driving the turbine, which creates electricity via a generator in the unit. A converter changes the direct current (DC) electricity into alternating current (AC) for use.
There are 2 types of domestic-sized wind turbine:
- mast mounted: these are free standing and are erected in a suitably exposed position, often around 2.5 to 6 kW.
- roof mounted: these are smaller than mast mounted and can be installed on the roof of a building where there is a suitable wind resource. Often these are around 1 kW to 2 kW in size.
Is my building suitable? You need a clear space free of obstacles such as trees, buildings or hills. You will also need your building to be in an area with wind speeds of 5 metres per second or more. You can use an anemometer in the position of the proposed wind turbine location to assess wind speed. Urban or suburban areas are less likely to be suitable.
Would it be possible to re-instate old windmills back to wind generators ie Cleadon hills Whitburn and others in my neighbourhood?
Having had a roof mounted Windsave turbine installed nearly 3 years ago, we were very pleased with the output until, at just over 2 years old (and out of warranty!) the inverter failed. We then discovered that Windsave had gone bust and B&Q who we bought it through refused to help. We bought another inverter from ebay but that only worked for ~24 hours. We have had 2 electronics "experts" look at it without finding a resolution. We had a grant for this one so will not be eligible for a grant for another one. What can we do???
Does anyone know of any city wind turbines that are currently operating? Or is it mostly in rural areas where they're most prevalent? Would be great to see a community wind farm in the centre of our cities