Topic: Wind power on allotments

[manicscousers]

Need some advice, please. We are considering getting some sort of turbine to light the shed, run the kettle and small hand tools, we don't know where to go for help. I think its a vertical one they're after because they're not noisy, apparently. Anyone any ideas, what do we need to store the electricity, bank of batteries?
does it have to be attached to the electricity grid, that would be a real challenge?
any advice gratefully received  ;D

[Chrispy]

You can get something like this
http://www.maplin.co.uk/50w-telescopic-vertical-axis-wind-turbine-396269?C=Brilliant1&U=P7%20Promo%202011&T=Vertical%20Wind%20Turbine&gclid=CO-K3Nj_vKkCFQUe4QodlSpxgA&mckv=mkwid%7Cs1bCGqvjc%7Cpcrid%7C8000264052%7Cplid%7C%7Ckword%7Cvertical+wind+turbine
This will charge a 12v battery, and you can fit 12v lights in the shed, and a 12v kettle for an occasional cup of tea.
Hand tool could be run off an inverter but would not run long.

Is this the sort of thing you were thinking of or do you have grander plans?

[Digeroo]

Have a look at boat supplies.  A lot of the craft on the Thames these days have small turbines to run their TVs etc.

[chriscross1966]

You'll need a decent liesure cell to store the energy.... 80-100Ah or so..... I'd still go for a small gas stove for heating water though.... Go Outdoors are doing those suitcase stoves for 7 quid ATM.... If you use Ryobi battery power tools they do a charger for One+ tools that runs off 12V, there's plenty of LED lighting that rusn off 12V .... bury the battery though and hide/disguise the turbine if you can, there are theives about out there...

chrisc

[Digeroo]

What about one of these
http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/index_21910.htm

Seems you get 30 minutes light for each minute winding.

Windturbines seem to be very expensive.

[manicscousers]

Thanks for the replies  :)
This is a new project for the allotments, we will be applying for a grant. At present we have a huge, deisel driven, smelly and very noisy generator and are trying to reduce our need for fuel.
Good thinking about security, will have to point that out
We have a small solar panel which lights up a light in the back of the shed via a leisure battery. We already have a gas stove from a caravan.We also have battery drills and the solar panel will charge them one at a time. It's more the lighting and tools. Don't think the new one would run the cement mixer though  ;D

[Unwashed]

Hi Manics

Your system depends on how much power you want to draw, for how long, and when.

What power tools do you want to run - do you know their power rating?

Can you manage with a gas kettle?  A system with enough power to boil a kettle is quite expensive.

No, it doesn't need to be grid-tied, but if you have the mains grid within reach that's likely to be much cheaper than a stand-alone wind/solar system.


Your basic components are:  

Generators:  A combination of wind turbine and solar array will be the best way of getting power all through the year.  Solar is quite a bit cheaper than wind so this might be a better option if you're hardly using the thing in the winter.  The combined output of the generators needs to be at least as much as the energy you plan to use, averaged over some period.

Storage:  You'll need a bank of leisure batteries.  How many depends both on how much energy you need to store, and how big a load you want to power.  The bigger the load the higher the current you draw, and if you take out too much at a time it can damage the batteries, and it certainly reduces their capacity and life.  You also need a bank of batteries big enough to store enough energy for you to run your appliances between periods when there's not enough wind/sun to re-charge the bank.

If you want to run a kettle (and possibly charge power tools too) then you could make do with a 24V DC system, but it will take 20 minutes to boil a small kettle.  Running a regular domestic kettle needs a 3.5kVA inverter (120V floating earth ideally) and they're not cheap, and they're not wonderfully efficient either, and you'll need a significant bank of leisure batteries to suppy it reliably, but you'll then have all the power you might want to run power tools.

[manicscousers]

Thanks, unwashed, I'll print this out and show it to the lads tomorrow if thats ok, it's just an idea at the moment. I think we'll stick to the gas kettle, makes more sense  :)

[Bruce]

solar might be more reliable. but you're still better off avoiding any ideas of kettles from battery power