subject: How Much Wind Speed Do You Actually Need For A Kit Turbine? [print this page] If you are looking into a kit turbine to make electricity at your home, then it is wise to carefully consider the wind speed that you have available there. All wind is not the same and you must make some upfront effort to tailor the solution to fit your exact wind signature of the location where you are going to install the device.Ideally, you are looking for at least 9 mph of average wind speed in order to make the project an obvious one.
You can certainly get away with a lot less than that, but you need to be looking for a turbine that's especially good at handling low wind conditions in that case.There are some kit turbine products that will operate just fine with less than 1 mph of average wind even. Those devices however, are a lot more expensive-generally on the order of 2 to 3 times the initial cost of a device that will operate with less average wind speed.
When you are looking into the kit turbine concept the very first thing that you need to do is understand what resources you have to work with at your house. The fact that we cannot see the wind makes it difficult for us to analyze this situation intuitively.Instead, to get this right requires some data collection and contemplation afterwards to adequately assess the options you have available. It is always wise to select at least a couple of locations where a wind kit turbine might work.This is the hardest part of getting a project like this right-taking the time initially to carefully plan and place your wind device in just the right spot to take advantage of the "best" wind conditions.
This is not a task that you can do in a hurry and requires some special equipment. But, you are spending a lot of money on the kit turbine, so you need to do your homework carefully and not get in a big hurry to have it done so you can start making energy.The main tool you'll need is an anemometer. This is just a small device that will allow you to test the wind at a specific location and record the data electronically for later analysis.
What you need to do is let the anemometer run for at least 6 months in each location where you think you might want to install your kit turbine. I know, 6 months sounds like a lot of time but you simply can't rely on the data that you get from services that collect wind data for the broader community. Those are just too high-level and will not be specific enough to tell you if the wind, say, on your roof will be enough to justify purchasing such a device.
The anemometer is just a small wind turbine of the Savonius variety. It looks like an orbit of small cups that's been in a plane horizontal and parallel to the surface of the earth. They will record the actual wind direction and intensity that your eventual kit turbine will experience.
In summary, the kit turbine for wind power can be an excellent source of wind energy for your home. You do however need to carefully assess your wind opportunity in each location where you might place the turbine and make your decision accordingly.
