Cutting The Carbon-Energy Cord: Unplug From (Or Sell To) The Central Grid

Modern large-scale wind turbines, manufactured by companies like General Electric and implemented by private and public power utilities, are massive in size and cost. According to Wikipedia, “typical wind turbines have diameters of 40 to 90 meters and are rated between 500 kW and 2 MW. Currently (2005) the most powerful turbine is rated at 6 MW.” Clearly, a wind turbine this big is not something you’d want to put in your backyard; not only would your neighbors armed with CC&R regulations have something to say about it, the FAA might also complain.

Fortunately, smaller-scale and

* “The tiny power plant sells for US $5100; total cost including installation runs between $8500 and $11,000.”

* “It can trim home electricity bills by 20 to 90 percent, depending on wind velocities, electricity prices, and government incentives in your area.”

* “Southwest Wind Power estimates that a SkyStream unit will produce about 100,000 kWh of power during its 20-year design life. ‘Divide, say, $9000 by 100,000 kilowatt-hours, and you end up with [an average energy cost of] 9 cents per kilowatt-hour,’ says Andrew Kruse, Southwest Windpower’s cofounder and vice president of business development.”

* “Although, generally speaking, larger turbines are more efficient at turning the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy, SkyStream out-performs 50- to 100-kW machines in terms of average cost of energy. Many still come in at 20 cents per kilowatt-hour or more, far above the DOE target of 10 to 15 cents per kilowatt-hour.”

* “Historically, small wind rotors have been 30 to 35 percent efficient. SkyStream comes in at around 41 percent, which is close to the efficiencies achieved by large wind turbines putting out megawatts.”

* “The sales potential of SkyStream is promising, says the company. ‘According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 17 million homes in America that we believe are appropriate for a small wind system,’ says Kruse. That number represents the households on a piece of property of a half acre or more in an area that has an average wind speed of 5.4 meters per second or greater.”

EDN