Domestic Wind Turbines – How to Avoid the Top 5 Pitfalls of Installing Your Own Wind Power

A recent Which? magazine poll surveyed owners of domestic wind turbines in the UK and found that 39% had not seen a drop in their electricity bill.

On the surface, it would seem that installing a wind turbine is fairly straight forward, and it is, but only if you follow a few golden rules. Below are the top reasons why people become disappointed with their wind turbine, and some tips to help you avoid these mistakes.

1. Finding out there’s not enough wind, or not the right kind of wind.

Most people can tell whether their home gets lots of wind, but far fewer can judge if it’s the right kind of wind for a wind turbine.

Generally, homes in urban areas only have a fraction of the wind power potential as those in remote rural locations. The reason for this that buildings, trees, and even moving vehicles create turbulence in the air. Wind turbines generate the most amount of electricity in a smooth flow of air, with a speed of at least 5 mph, preferably faster.

Before going ahead with a small wind turbine, make sure you have researched just how much wind resource your home has.

Here are some general rules:

- Try and avoid installing a turbine on the roof of a house.

- Make sure your turbine is mounted up high, 30ft above any object within a 100ft radius.

- Contact the Energy Saving Trust or the American Association of Wind Energy or equivelent, to find out the wind potential of your location.

2. Misunderstanding A Turbine’s Power Rating

It’s important that you’re realistic about how much energy a turbine will produce given your wind resource. Wind turbines come with a power rating (aka load factor), but this is not neccessarily the amount of power you will receive. Load factors give an idea of how much electricity can be produced and typically this is assumed as 10%. However, this depends on where you live.

Here are some load factor rules of thumb: -

Load Factor of 5% if building mounted in a rural area

Load factor of 3% if building mounted in an urban area

Load factor of 30% if free standing in a remote rural location

- As before, the lesson is to contact the above websites, research on forums, and perhaps contact the manufacturer.

3. It wears out premuturely

Wind turbine enthusiasts say that you shouldn’t go for the very smallest wind turbines, as they require much more maintainance.

Additionally, there are a number of cut-price turbines available that simply are not up to the task.

-Try to get a long warranty (3 years or more)

4. It gets struck by lightning

If your turbine is mounted correctly, the chances are that it’s up nice and high on a metal pole, making it vulnerable to lightning strikes. Depending on how much you have invested in your turbine you might want to fit a lightening conductor to protect your hardware.

- A lightning conductor can cost around £1200 to have fitted. Alternatively you can do a DIY job with some lead and a spike.

5. Planning permission problems

Depending on the opinions of you neighbors, it may or may not be difficult to get the planing permission for installing domestic wind turbine turbines.

-It’s best to be on the safe side and ask your local authority first. I recently read a sad story from Ireland about one owner who was forced to take a turbine down because it was thought to be spoiling the view.