You will find good material here on how to evaluate your site for wind power (very important), how wind systems work, how to size a wind system for your needs, and lots of information on DIY and homemade wind turbines and commercial systems. Directory for this page: Questions?
Watch Out For Wind Turbine Power Ratings: |
Where D^2 is the blade diameter in feet squared,
and V^3 is the wind velocity cubed in mph -- this is the year round
average wind speed -- see wind maps below. Note that the energy produced is proportional to the cube of wind speed -- having enough average wind speed is everything in wind turbines. Use the wind maps discussed below and a wind survey of your site to determine if a wind turbine will actually payoff. The graph is of the wind energy equation shown above for various wind speeds and turbine blade diameters. ----------------------------------------------> See also: Solar and WIND water pumping ...
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ARE wind turbine in Oregon
photo by J. Hall
Wind Power Basics | |
Step One -- Avoid the scams |
There are some very heavily advertised guides for sale on the Internet in
the $50 range that promise that you can make a small wind turbine that will
provide "80%" of your homes power for a couple hundred dollars. You can be sure that anyone making these kinds of claims is a scammer -- don't waste your money. You will find plenty of free information below for reputable sources. |
Wind Power for Dummies, Ian Woofenden, 2009
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![]() Ian is a very long time wind expert
-- he does wind workshops from his wind powered home in the San Juan's, and
has been the wind expert/editor/author for Home Power for many years.
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Small Wind Electric System -- U.S.
Consumer's Guide, Wind & Hydropower Technologies Program, EERE A US consumer wind guide, as well as guides for many state. Other wind publications as well |
![]() The state guides include wind maps for the state in question. |
Wind-Electric Systems simplified, Ian Woofenden
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Wind Turbine Buyer's Guide, Mick Sagrillo, Ian Woofenden How to get articles from Home Power ...
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![]() If you are serious about wanting to install a wind turbine that will generate the amount of energy you expect, and will not be a nightmare to maintain, this article is a must. The other critical item that is not covered in detail is making sure your site has sufficient wind to make a wind turbine work -- this is covered in articles below. |
Wind Power -- Renewable Energy for
Home, Farm, and Business Paul Gipe's web site:
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![]() An excellent, all around, in depth book on wind power. |
Got Wind? --
How to use the Wind Resource Atlas of the United States Another
US set of wind maps: Similar for Canada: |
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NREL Wind Turbine Payback Spreadsheet
(Thanks to Derek for relocating the lost link to this useful tool)
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Site Analysis for Wind Generators Mick Sagrillo |
![]() The most important factor in determining if you can successfully use wind power is how much wind you have. This is not an easy thing to determine -- this article tells you how. |
Scoraig Wind -- Hugh Piggott's Homepage |
![]() The "Windpower Workshop" book gets very good reviews from people who want to build their own (as do his actual workshops). |
Anatomy of A Wind Turbine, Ian Woofenden, Hugh Piggott, |
![]() A good basics article explaining the internals of a wind turbine. Good to understand whether you want to build one or buy one. |
The American Wind Energy Association |
![]() Lots of good material. |
Apples and Oranges 2002 -- Choosing
a Home-Sized Wind Generator Mike Sagrillo |
Home Power magazine article, issue 90 Some good advice on choosing a home size wind generator from the guru. Lots of comparison specifications for numerous commercial wind generator offerings. |
Tower Economics 101, 102 and 103 Mick Sagrillo |
![]() Very good article on the economic benefits of using a tall tower, and how to decide how tall. |
Harvest the Wind Michael Hackleman and Claire Anderson Mother Earth News |
![]() Good introduction to determining if a wind system will work for you, and the important elements of a wind system. |
Kid Wind
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Ontario Landowner's Guide to Wind Energy" (free download) Paul Gipe and Jame Murphy
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Logging Wind Velocity These gadgets log wind speeds over an extended period to see if you have enough wind to make a wind generator pay off. |
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Jarvis (and other) Wind Data Logger
Backwoods Solar (and select "Windmills"): APRS World, LLC: |
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Inspeed Wind Speed/Direction Loggers
www.inspeed.com/wind_data_logging/Default.asp
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![]() Some of the solutions require a PC to be on at all times to log
data, so you would want to have a very low power use PC. |
Piclog - PicAxe
based Wind Logger www.thebackshed.com/Windmill/PicLog.asp
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Windmeter/Anemometer by Infidigm http://www.infidigm.net/projects/windmeter/
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![]() Another option is to install of the small wind turbines (like a Air X) and use it to see how much power a larger wind turbine would generate. |
DIY Windmill Plans and Information | |
Scoraig Wind -- Hugh Piggott's Homepage |
![]() The "Windpower Workshop" book gets very good reviews from people who want to build their own (as do his actual workshops). |
OtherPower.com http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_wind.html www.otherpower.com/otherpower_experiments.html |
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Homebrew Wind Power, Dan Bartmann and Dan Fink, 2009, 320 pages
http://www.forcefieldmagnets.com/...
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User Diaries on the Fieldlines Forum...
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Tom's 5.5 KW, 20 ft
diameter wind turbine and 140 ft tilt-up tower
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![]() The turbine is Tom's version of a Prairie Technologies 5.5KW, grid tie, AC turbine. The 140 ft tower was completely designed and built by Tom. Quite a project! ![]()
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DIY Windmills from The Back Shed www.thebackshed.com/windmill/default.asp
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![]() Oct 09: this site gets better and better -- a great collection of material on home built wind machines. |
"Now for the Wind
Turbine"
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![]() Lots of detail and helpful information on design, choosing components, installing, wiring, towers, suppliers, permitting, ... ![]() |
Wind Poer to the People... |
Kyle works out and builds some DIY wind turbine designs that require only simple tools and that don't break the bank. His site also lists many helpful resources for wind turbine designers and builders. "Through two generous grants from the University of Virginia, I set off to acomplish this goal during the summer of 2011. My plan was to design a micro wind turbine that could be built using nothing but hand tools, and did not need any machining, lathing, or components that were not easily available." |
How I home-built an electricity producing Wind
turbine www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/index.html
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Wind Stuff Now http://www.windstuffnow.com/main/
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![]() An interesting site with new "stuff" added frequently. ![]() Kits for small DIY windturbines. The Lenz2 turbine in picture at right is an ongoing project that was featured in Popular Science. ---> |
Building a Wind Generator From Scratch, Chuck Morrison http://wind.morrisonprairie.com/WindMachine.html
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![]() Very detailed. |
Wind Blue Power
Here is a series of videos for a wind gen built from the WindBlue
alternator rotor: |
![]() One nice thing about this site is that they are honest about the output of their windmill kit ... |
Maine-Built Windmills From Scratch Everett Russell |
Home Power Magazine article, issue 79 Good article on building wind generator system from scratch from someone who has been doing it since 1937. |
Dragon Fly Wind Generator Plans/Kit http://dragonflypower.com/DragonBlerb.htm
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Colorado Wind Power
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![]() Other material on this site of interest to DIYers, including making wood blades, stators, ...
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Wind Odyssey Dick Anderson |
![]() Very nice article on rebuilding an Enertech 1800 wind generator. Lots of detail on what's involved in a project like this. |
Prototype 10 KW Wind Turbine
Plans for 10 KW Wind Turbine (pdf) (Thanks to Tom for re-finding this link) |
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Old Jacobs -- Current Again Peter Kuebeck How to get articles from Home Power ... |
![]() Good article on restoring used Jacobs wind generators. |
Total Homebrew -- starting small to
learn the basics Michael Lew |
![]() Good article on an all DIY very small scale wind generator system. |
Old Jacobs -- Current Again Peter Kuebeck How to get articles from Home Power ...
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Home Power Magazine article, issue 89 Good article on restoring used Jacobs wind generators. |
Prairie Turbines Breezy 5.5 http://www.prairieturbines.com/
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The turbine is said to produce about 3 KW at 12 mph wind speed. And, that it can be built for about $4000. |
The Wood 103 -- A wooden 100 Watt Wind Generator |
![]() Being a woodworker, I really liked this article. It looks like a good way for one with woodworking skills to experiment with wind power generation. |
Wind Generator from Fisher Paykel
Washing Machine www.yourgreendream.com/diy_instructions.php
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![]() Because of its unique construction, this motor makes a good alternator. |
Wind Power Applications | |
Betting the Farm -- Wind
electricity Pays Off Fischer How to get articles from Home Power ... |
Home Power magazine article, issue 96 Description of grid intertied medium size wind generation system. Details economics, planning and installation. |
Building a really large wind turbine
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Wind Power History | |
A look at the 1855,m 20 meter diameter Veldkamps Meul'n windmill in Bellingwolde...
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Fascinating pictures of an 1885 wind mill and all the internal mill
machinery.
20 meter diameter, 4 blade traditional Dutch design. Still in operation. |
A Sampling of Wind Generator Suppliers (listed alphabetically -- I have no direct experience with any of these suppliers -- so, beware!) |
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Bergey Wind Turbines
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Eoltec Wind Turbines |
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Evance Wind www.evancewind.com |
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Fortis Wind Energy... |
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Gaia-Wind www.gaia-wind.com |
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Jacobs Wind Turbines
http://www.windturbine.net/products.htm
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Kestrel Wind Turbines
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Mariah Power Windspire 1 KWH
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
An Article from The Energy Blog...
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![]() It is 30 ft high by 2 ft wide with guy wires. It is anchored in a concrete foundation. Said to produce 1900 KWH per year with an average 12 mph wind. Said
to be very quiet. |
Proven Energy Wind Turbines
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quietrevolution Wind Turbines
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Raum Energy http://www.raumenergy.com |
![]() Said to emphasize reliability and ease of installation. |
Southwest Windpower
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Skystream 3.7 Wind Turbine from
Southwest Windpower www.windenergy.com/products/skystream
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![]() The Skystream is a 12 ft diameter turbine that is designed for grid connected residential use. It comes as a package that includes all the electronics and grid tie inverter. Kind of a plug-and-play wind turbine. It claims to be designed to fit into residential areas -- low noise, street lamp type tower, ... About $15,000 plus installation. It is said to produce 400 KWH per month in winds averaging 12.3 mph. Some problems have been reported with low power output, so make sure this has been sorted out, and that you understand roughly how much power will be produced in your particular installation. |
XZERES Wind http://www.xzeres.com |
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New Designs | |
Water Pumping Windmills | |
There is a section on water pumping windmills here... |
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