Small Wind turbines - farmscale

[JR.]

Hello all. Apologies for what is quite a noddy post, but I am looking at options for one or two what I call 'farm scale' windturbines - in the 5kw to 10kw range. Go back a few years and they seemed to be everywhere (suffolk and norfolk) - thanks in part to Windcrop putting them up. Now they seem to be something of a rarity and certainly i don't come across many new ones.

I have a 29kw solar array on a grainstore roof and I want to use more of this power for an electric car and for running my house. I am not looking at this from a FIT generation perspective, like we did with the solar, I actually want to generate and use the power.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a manufacturer or installer that is proven?

I know planning can be an issue, but I would hope not so much with these smaller ones

Thanks

Jonathan

 

[Exfarmer]

Hello all. Apologies for what is quite a noddy post, but I am looking at options for one or two what I call 'farm scale' windturbines - in the 5kw to 10kw range. Go back a few years and they seemed to be everywhere (suffolk and norfolk) - thanks in part to Windcrop putting them up. Now they seem to be something of a rarity and certainly i don't come across many new ones.

I have a 29kw solar array on a grainstore roof and I want to use more of this power for an electric car and for running my house. I am not looking at this from a FIT generation perspective, like we did with the solar, I actually want to generate and use the power.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a manufacturer or installer that is proven?

I know planning can be an issue, but I would hope not so much with these smaller ones

Thanks

Jonathan

See my post in the other thread
This is from one of these windcrop turbines and may explain why they have disapeared

 

[Far North Gollach]

The Gaia G-11 model 11kw turbines (now Ryse energy) are good in lower wind areas which I think your Ip21 postcode will be. Only problem with them is they are 3 phase only so can only go in certain locations with a 3 phase connection nearby, or be set up for off grid c/w storage,

As I mentioned in my earlier reply today in the Renewables section, the SD wind turbines are meant to be good but work better in windier areas of the country. Pretty much all the other makers have gone bankrupt in the past decade, the ones I see parked up not generating in Caithness are these makes (mostly Xzeres).

 

[Exfarmer]

The Gaia G-11 model 11kw turbines (now Ryse energy) are good in lower wind areas which I think your Ip21 postcode will be. Only problem with them is they are 3 phase only so can only go in certain locations with a 3 phase connection nearby, or be set up for off grid c/w storage,

As I mentioned in my earlier reply today in the Renewables section, the SD wind turbines are meant to be good but work better in windier areas of the country. Pretty much all the other makers have gone bankrupt in the past decade, the ones I see parked up not generating in Caithness are these makes (mostly Xzeres).

How can a wind turbine operate better in a less windy area, sounds a bit like to solar salesmen , telling me their panels still work in cloudy conditions

 

[Far North Gollach]

Look up the Ryse Energy website, the Gaia is a big 2 blade turbine design (13m span) that spins at 56rpm max allowing it to catch as much wind as possible in lower wind areas, this makes it very good for lower wind areas whereas the SD wind turbines spin at up to 400rpm and is very good in higher wind areas. The cut in speed for the Gaia (when it starts producing electricity) is almost half what the SD is.

I had the good luck to be sitting next to the CEO of Gaia on a flight up from Heathrow (before they went bust when the FIT's were pulled) and spoke about them at length with him. I mentioned I was from Caithness and he said it's really too windy up in Caithness for our turbines, I said well you could have fooled me as there's plenty of them up in Caithness..!!

I hasten to add I'm not a salesman for turbines, just a geek that knows a bit to much about these things lol.

 

[Exfarmer]

Look up the Ryse Energy website, the Gaia is a big 2 blade turbine design (13m span) that spins at 56rpm max allowing it to catch as much wind as possible in lower wind areas, this makes it very good for lower wind areas whereas the SD wind turbines spin at up to 400rpm and is very good in higher wind areas. The cut in speed for the Gaia (when it starts producing electricity) is almost half what the SD is.

I had the good luck to be sitting next to the CEO of Gaia on a flight up from Heathrow (before they went bust when the FIT's were pulled) and spoke about them at length with him. I mentioned I was from Caithness and he said it's really too windy up in Caithness for our turbines, I said well you could have fooled me as there's plenty of them up in Caithness..!!

I hasten to add I'm not a salesman for turbines, just a geek that knows a bit to much about these things lol.

I think I will stick to solar

 

[Far North Gollach]

Yep, sounds like a good plan - solar will be a lot cheaper to install with a lot less maintenance costs compared to a wind turbine. The last time I spoke to one of the local guys that put a Gaia up it was £70K and that wasn't yesterday, don't know what one would cost to install today.

 

[Highland Mule]

I priced a C&F at £80k around ten years ago. Kind of wish I’d gone for the Proven 15 and not decided against it, but that’s life. Certainly glad I didn’t get the C&F.

 

[Far North Gollach]

Be glad you didn't get either, the 15kw Proven finished the company with the failures it had. I believe the modified Proven 15 with upgraded drive shaft and smaller blades work well now.

Don't know who supplies spares/does maintenance for the C&F turbines after they pulled the plug in 2019?? They sold a load of them back in the day....

 

[KennyO]

Be glad you didn't get either, the 15kw Proven finished the company with the failures it had. I believe the modified Proven 15 with upgraded drive shaft and smaller blades work well now.

Don't know who supplies spares/does maintenance for the C&F turbines after they pulled the plug in 2019?? They sold a load of them back in the day....

Northern Turbine Services & Gael Energy are the two main maintenance options for C&F in Scotland.

 

[Highland Mule]

Northern Turbine Services & Gael Energy are the two main maintenance options for C&F in Scotland.

Saw one getting worked on a few months ago. Looked like a white Unimog that they had for winching it down. No idea who it was though.

 

[KennyO]

Saw one getting worked on a few months ago. Looked like a white Unimog that they had for winching it down. No idea who it was though.

Will be one of the above. Probably NTS as they got a lot of the C&F Mog's.

 

[Still Farming]

The answer is in your question.

"With Proven track record" .

Proven wind turbines.
Now Kingspan.
6 and 15 kw models.

 

[JR.]

Ok - thanks for the replies chaps, I think I know far too little about this and the cost is looking too high to "have a go". Will head off the do some proper research.

My thinking had been that the wind nearly always blows but the sun does not always shine (i know solar still works when it is dull) so why not catch both energy opportunities, but it seems that wind is rather costly and unreliable.

Thank you for yor time

JR

 

[e3120]

How can a wind turbine operate better in a less windy area, sounds a bit like to solar salesmen , telling me their panels still work in cloudy conditions

There was a brief fashion for putting over-sized rotors on turbines for low-wind sites. I suppose it's a bit like putting a big lens over your panels to multiply up winter sunshine. Similar consequences/mitigation when the wind properly blows or in a sunny June day!

In the turbine scenario a major, morally dubious, benefit is that you had, in all but the highest of winds, a turbine of higher output that attracted the FIT rate of a smaller machine.

 

[daveydiesel1]

What about all them small turbines that come up from amazone/ebay for say around 2 grand or less? Would they be worth a look for a house?

 

[Stewartry hill]

What about all them small turbines that come up from amazone/ebay for say around 2 grand or less? Would they be worth a look for a house?

Don't know the answer but wife and I had that conversion abop1/2 a hour ago wait and see the answer s

 

[Clive]

What about all them small turbines that come up from amazone/ebay for say around 2 grand or less? Would they be worth a look for a house?

they are very low Kw’s i think ? but maybe if you added batteries for storage it could work ?

 

[Still Farming]

Few got them around here with solar panels charging batteries for security cameras .
1-2 kwhr type.
See them charging batteries on boats also.
Like anything it all depends what you what to power with the system?