Setting Up A Wind Turbine

What do you call a machine for converting the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy? If the mechanical energy is used directly by machines, such as a pump or a grindstone, the machine is called a windmill. If the mechanical energy is converted into electricity, the machine is called a wind generator.

It is said that wind power can meet 20% of the nation's electrical needs…how about yours? Are you tired of that monthly power bill, or are you looking to supplement your PV array? It's a rare site where a single source will provide adequate power through all seasons or weather conditions; it's a fact that multiple sources are necessary…as a wise man once said: The wind blows when the sun isn't shining.

So for whatever reasons, you've decided to take that large, some would say daunting, step to erect your own turbine. There is a lot to consider. Why don't we start from the ground up?

First, consider your tower. There are basically four types. We'll start with the cheapest. Sometimes called the guyed pipe tower, several lengths of pipe screwed or welded together and held erect by guy wires (those are the long lengths of strong wires that are secured into the ground). Less cheap is the guyed lattice tower, three sided and guy wired. You have probably seen them before; ham radio operators favored them. If you happen to run into one of these ex-operators who were seduced by the internet you might be able to take the tower off his hands, for cheap.

Not so cheap are the free standing lattice towers. The most expensive, and therefore, the most impressive, is the monopole tower. In Germany, there are wind turbine towers that are 98m high with a rotor diameter of 70m, not quite the private wind farmer's cup of tea.

Which does bring us to the rotors; HAWT (or Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines) are the most common. They have the main rotor shaft and the electrical generators at the top of the towers and must be pointed into the wind. Large turbines use a wind sensor coupled with a servomotor. This is, basically, the rig that is used in commercial electrical production.

It is true that diameter matters--nothing will tell you more about a turbine's potential than it's rotor diameter; it shows it will intercept more wind stream and will generate more electricity.

Erecting the wind tower will require the help of a professional, a group of really good and trusted friends, or someone who has done it before and has a working rig in operation. Go for it!