Are you looking for information on how to build your own wind turbine? Before you start let me give you some helpful tips on how you can go about building your first wind turbine.
The first thing you need to identify is a location that you can put your wind turbine up in the wind. Whether you live in a residential area or out in the country you need to locate an area free from obstructions, building, trees, sheds, etc. obstructions will distort the wind and drop your performance. Another concern is safety, wind turbines can fly apart, and should not be place where they could cause mortal harm to people. A typical residential backyard can generally accommodate a 3ft diameter wind turbine (rotor). If you have more than a free acre you should be able to accommodate a 7ft+ diameter wind turbine.
You might consider conducting a wind study in your selected area, by using an anemometer. Anemometers are readily available and typically start at $35. This will tell if you if the area has a good wind resource and also help predict the amount of power you are going to generate. A good area would have wind above 10 MPH.
The components that you will need for your wind turbine will be a generator, rotor blades, and a tower. Typically you will also need a controller and a battery bank to store the energy into. I commonly see people jump into building a wind turbine, once completed they give up because they were not prepared to build or a buy a storage system or tower.
Now that we have covered the basics ask yourself these three questions:
Is this a realistic project for me?
- Do I have the tools and a space to build it?
- Do I have access to a suitable unobstructed site with space to allow the machine to operate safely
- If you can answer yes to all these questions and you find you have the passion to complete this project, then get started!
Please note that building one will save you money over buying a commercial one, but expect to spend your valuable time doing so. Be smart and be careful.
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