subject: Wind Turbine Prices: 3 Challenges You Will Face [print this page] With wind turbine prices it is important to understand what you really need before you start looking to buy an actual unit. This equipment can be a perfect solution to high power costs from your utility but you need to precisely assess your needs before you start looking for a solution in the form of an actual wind turbine to buy.
These are the things you need to do to get this right from the very beginning...
What is your wind trying to tell you? Paying attention to what the wind on your property is trying to tell you. Of course it will not tell you anything unless it is measured carefully with an anemometer. An anemometer is just a small device that he can be handheld but also can be strapped to a pole in a location that you're planning to install the turbine in order to measure the wind velocity and direction over a long period of time. Now when I say along period of time I mean 6 months to a year. There's a certain seasonality that goes along with wind patterns and you need to understand what that seasonality is.
Do you really have a need for supplemental power from a home wind turbine? What am I trying to accomplish with the wind turbine? If your objective is just to provide a good backup system for your primary power source which comes from your local utility, then the best course of action is simply to charge up some batteries and let them run in the background in case you need them. If you have a tremendous amount of wind energy on your property though, you could even think about selling some of that energy that you make back to your utility.
Can you sell power back to your utility? As I just mentioned, there is the option in many cases to sell power that you make back to you or utility at the price that they create the power at. In other words, you will not be able sell it back to them the same price that you pay them for the power you buy from them. But, you will be able sell it at the price that it costs them to create it. The difference in cost is in the delivery and the return on investment that the utility is allowed to take.
In the final analysis, wind turbine prices are all over the map but the way to get them right is to carefully assess your needs and initial conditions from the very beginning.
