Wednesday 1 July 2009

Domestic-Wind-Turbines



There are 2 main types of wind turbine that are suitable for use with a domestic house.

1. Grid-Tied Wind Turbine:

Grid-Tied, simply put, means your wind turbine is connected in line with your national grid electricity supply. When you are using less electricity than your wind turbine is producing then the excess power is pushed past your electricity meter and back into the nation grid. This enables your meter to run backwards and reduce your bill you have to pay to your electricity supplier.
The disadvantage with a grid tied wind turbine is that in the event of your electricity supply shutting down (Power Cut) then the wind turbine supply shuts down also meaning you will have no electricity supply until the grid supply is restored. This is a safety feature to prevent your supply back feeding the national grid in the event of a power cut.

2. Isolated Wind Turbine Feeding Batteries:

A system that supplies batteries is not as efficient as a grid tied wind turbine due to the losses in storing electricity in batteries instead of directly feeding the national grid but the plus side is that the electricity you produce can be stored for later use.
You require a wind turbine designed to charge your battery bank. You also require suitable, maintenance free batteries for power storage, if you require domestic AC (Alternating Current) power then you will need an inverter to convert the DC (Direct Current) back to 230V AC that can be used with mains powered domestic appliances.

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