Domestic Wind Power
Posted by Laird on May 19, 2008
Domestic Wind Power
Wind power is taking off in a big way worldwide, in both giant utility-scale installations and small-scale turbines intended to power a single home. Remote off-grid dwellers are finding wind power an excellent supplement to solar during cloudy weather, and enjoying the extra freedom that more power input gives, especially after dark or during cloudy weather. On-grid folks are installing home wind turbines to offset rising power costs, and even selling extra power back to the utility.
Wind has been the world’s fastest growing renewable energy source for the last seven years, and this trend is expected to continue with falling costs of wind energy and the urgent international need to tackle CO2 emissions to prevent climate change.Wind power has come of age. It is now actually cheaper to generate electricity from the wind that it is from coal or nuclear fuelled power stations, and advances in technology are pulling the expanding wind industry into direct cost competition with gas. Wind energy already supplies 17,000MW worldwide - enough electricity for more than 10million households. Capacity is expected to grow by 25per cent per annum over the next few years.
Grid-connected power
Grid-connected wind turbines may use grid energy storage, displacing purchased energy with local production when available. Off-grid system users either adapt to intermittent power or use batteries, photovoltaic or diesel systems to supplement the wind turbine.
Small wind generation systems with capacities of 100 kW or less are usually used to power homes, farms, and small businesses. Isolated communities that otherwise rely on diesel generators may use wind turbines to displace diesel fuel consumption. Individuals purchase these systems to reduce or eliminate their electricity bills, or simply to generate their own clean power.
Wind turbines have been used for household electricity generation in conjunction with battery storage over many decades in remote areas. Increasingly, U.S. consumers are choosing to purchase grid-connected turbines in the 1 to 10 kilowatt range to power their whole homes. Household generator units of more than 1 kW are now functioning in several countries, and in every state in the U.S.
In urban locations, where it is difficult to obtain predictable or large amounts of wind energy, smaller systems may still be used to run low power equipment. Equipment such as parking meters or wireless internet gateways may be powered by a wind turbine that charges a small battery, replacing the need for a connection to the power grid.
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