subject: Choosing The Best Site For Your Wind Turbine [print this page] Choosing the right site for your wind turbine is a vital step in building your home wind power renewable energy system. Picking the wrong site can leave you with an incredibly low power efficiency and picking the right site can mean that you are harnessing far more of the wind's kinetic energy. But exactly what do you need to consider when you are selecting the site for your wind turbine?
First of all, before starting out on any wind power project you need to accurately know what the average wind speed is at your site. If you own a large area of land, such as a farm, the wind speed may well be very different at different locations on your land. Get hold of a good quality anemometer and take some numerous different readings at different locations. The outlay that you spend on this device will potentially save you thousands over the long run, so make sure that you have an accurate and reliable machine.
One of the big problems for wind power systems is turbulence. Wind turbines work best when the wind is blowing strongly and cleanly over the blades. Turbulence can be caused by nearby hills, buildings and trees and it causes a significant drop in performance of your wind turbine. This is the reason why most turbines are located on the top of very tall towers, because it gets the rotor blades up in the sky, above any turbulence caused by nearby obstacles. You should be placing your wind turbine as high up as you reasonably can. Invest in a good quality wind turbine tower.
If you are fitting a smaller wind turbine and you are not surrounded by neighbouring buildings and trees, then you might consider a rooftop mounting for your wind generator. But if you are surrounded by obstacles that are going to cause turbulence, then this is unlikely to give you particularly good efficiency. If you are considering this route, then mount your anemometer on the rooftop for a while top capture some wind speed readings. Obviously larger wind turbines cannot be roof mounted.
If you are putting a wind turbine on your boat or RV, you are obviously much more limited in your choice of location. You are likely to not be so concerned about wind turbulence as the vehicle travels. Make sure that you get a quality mounting kit to securely and safely attach your wind turbine to your boat or RV. Note that these kits are often sold by the wind turbine manufacturers.
Modern technology has allowed wind turbines to become much more efficient in turbulence than they used to be, but the choice of site for your wind turbine is still exceptionally important.
