I know that Nadja has some wind generators and solar and that he runs his entire home off grid. TN Andy has enough solar panels in a grid tie system to make his electric bills at or near zero with a few more panels planned. What I'm wondering is how to create a small system that supplements my current grid power without having a grid tie inverter. I have great wind and would love to find a way to reduce my bills. How would I set up a wind turbine that feeds into my home electrical system to offset my utility electric usage? Can I do this without a battery bank? Not looking for backup during an outage at this point. Does the inverter synchronize with my grid power when the wind turbine is producing? Can a system like this be made modular so that it could be expanded in the future?
I wonder if there's a small grid tie inverter that works with wind gennys, similar to the PV AC modules Exeltech makes for solar? They're a couple hundred bucks apiece, and tie straight into the grid. (Info HERE.) Want more power? Add another PV module, with another Exeltech AC module clipped to the back, and plug it in! It sure would be slick if someone has perfected this for wind, as it's just what you're looking for...
There are several ways to go , but I should think Mel would want something that could run his entire house most of the time, and buy of the elec. co. the rest of the time. xantrax makes a 4kw unit and outback also but not sure of their size. I will be able to offer up a totally new wind system very very soon that the genny will be 2k which is ideal for a normal size house. There will be three versions, and each is designed for a different amount of avail. wind. Made Here in America !
While I used to live in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors, I could have put up a 2 MW turbine without anyone noticing or complaining. At that time, I had a 100 ft head waterfall in my backyard and began designing a micro hydro system. Now, neighbors are a concern so I can't likely go for a whole house system. The nature of my job has had me move a lot and I'm renting my current home. That's why I wondering if there is a quick plug and play solution to offset my current utility bills. If I can get by without a battery bank for backup and could backfeed from an inverter directly into my local system, I think it would be perfect. What I'm not sure of is if I need the battery bank to equalize of buffer the power going from the inverter to my house.
Sounds almost like you're a candidate for a trailer mounted rig that can be plugged into the house or meter box if the utility and landlord will let you, and I don't see why they would not.. Hm. Gotta think on that a bit myself.
Grid tie is not a problem , batteries or no, however , portable is and would be the problem. The higher up , the better. That requires a tower, cable ties, concrete footings, unground cable shielded in conduit etc. Even if you wanted to just mount it on the roof, it would most certainly result in a huge loss of wind power at best, and would also have to be securely bolted to your roof. Landlords don't like tennants bolting things through their roof's. Makes em kinda testy
OK, I guess I missed the context of the message. You do not need batteries for a grid tie system, however you do need a grid tie invertor. Xantrax and Outback both make a great invertor, albiet that they are a little on the pricey side. About 2-3 thousand depending on what you would want.
Just another NOTE, here, The OutBack Folks are the SAME design team, that designed ALL the Trace SW, DR, and U Series Inverter/Chargers. When the owners of Trace sold the company to Xantrax, a few years back, the design team got so feed up with the NEW owners, they all quit, walked "Out the Back Door" down the street a half mile, and started OutBack Power Systems. They then designed competitive hardware, and the rest is History. I have Trace gear here, only because I bought it long before there was an OutBack Power Systems, but I have designed and installed many OutBack Systems since. It is Pricey, but if you want quality, OutBack is what you're looking for.
Any thoughts about a low wind area? most of eastern NC is low wind or no wind according to the wind charts is it worthwhile setting up any wind generation in this area?
What it would depend on is HOW MUCH wind do you get ? For instance do you get say a 5-10 mile ph. type wind or even less. There is a new wind generator now in production, developed and built here in the U.S. just for this. I am waiting for mine which will be a test one for low wind areas. Although the last 5 days now have been failry windy anyway, which lets my high wind genny work quite well. Pm me if your further interested in this , with the info on where you are , Clearings ? building etc which are all something that have to be delt with if you want it to be successful. Also, look at my blog on erecting a wind genny tower, which is the correct way to do it if you want it to stay in the air and not fall on something.
