How much does it cost?

I'm starting to research installing wind at my house. I can't find ANY information about how much turbines cost. It's a little frustrating. I don't want to see "how much I could save" calculators. Can someone cut through the crap and tell me how much you've paid for your turbine? I'd like to know the price of the turbine itself, as well as how much it cost for installation.

Maybe something like:

- City/State
- Name of turbine
- Price of turbine
- Cost of installation

That would be awesome!

Comments

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: How much does it cost?

    You did look at our host's store Wind-Sun for wind power turbines, towers, and accessories? Most items seem to be priced.

    I don't have have a wind turbine (unless you count the 12 VDC wind generator for my old WW II aircraft--that I never installed)...

    Do you have sufficient wind for a turbine? The California coast can have some good wind locations. But, if you don't get a lot of marine layer fog/low clouds, solar should give a wind turbine a good run for the money...

    My secondary concern with wind (other than you have probably to live in a miserably windy location for turbines to make sense), is the amount of maintenance required (plus costs of crane lifts/tower tilts) vs Solar Panels.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    Re: How much does it cost?
    BB. wrote: »

    Do you have sufficient wind for a turbine? The California coast can have some good wind locations. But, if you don't get a lot of marine layer fog/low clouds, solar should give a wind turbine a good run for the money...

    The reason I'm looking at wind over solar is that wind picks up big time in the afternoon daily (and good guess, I am on the California coast), and we hardly ever get more than 4 hours of sun a day; so it feels like solar is not an option.

    But, it's probably not windy enough to make it cost effective either... grr.

    Thanks for the link, I'll take a look.
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: How much does it cost?

    I grew up on the coast in Pacifica CA... So, I know what you mean. I was used to 2 days of "sun" and 4 days of clouds/fog in summer--and many places closer the coast and up in San Francisco would not see the sun at all during the summer (I went to college at SFSU--western SF).

    IIRC, there is one person here that lives down south and really only gets afternoon sun--so he oriented his panels westerly and is pretty happy.

    If you really get afternoon sun most of the time--perhaps 1/2 of your solar power will still be better (and more reliable) than wind.

    Everything I have read about wind (and from spending time in the hills above Pacifica)--unless it is miserably windy most of the time--a wind generator is not going to provide much power.

    Years ago (decade or two now?), in Half Moon Bay California--they had installed a couple of wind turbines and rewired the runway to use low power/radio controlled lighting.

    Problem was, at that time, the wind turbines used break-a-way links to feather the prop (or lock/furl--don't recall which) and it required a crane to pull the turbines for new links--after three or four winter storms, the took the turbines down permanently and rented out the towers for a major cell phone antenna farm (probably makes much more money from the rentals than would ever have been generated by the turbines).

    In the end, you may do as well, or better, by going down the "extreme" conservation road. Lots of new energy star appliances, new CFL lighting, double/triple pane windows, ceiling, wall, and floor insulation, and training people to turn off lights (and putting local switches on wall transformers, home entertainment systems, using low power lap-top type systems instead of always on desktops, power off printers except when using, etc.)...

    I did a fair amount of conservation remodeling on my old home (late 1930's) and am very happy I did it--no drafts, much less noise from outside (nobody really likes the CFL lights though... Just live with them)... Added 3kW Grid Tied system after I did all of the other work (insulation, windows, lights, new appliances, turn off printers/HD receiver when not used, etc.) and generate more power than I use (year over year). (saving for that electric around-town car 8) ).

    Get a Kill-A-Watt meter (120 VAC, 15 amps max) to measure some of your loads--it can be a real eye-opener how much power is wasted.

    My next thing is to look at hot water / heating use of natural gas. Might try a solar hot water system some day (daughters really like their hot showers and I like a home a bit warmer than 62F--my wife is cheaper than I :roll: ).

    -Bill

    PS: I am not physic... (psychotic--but that is another story--according to my wife)... Since they show IP address here, just go to this link and plug in the IP's... Helps a lot when trying to give answers (most RE stuff is location and country dependent).
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • Noodles
    Noodles Solar Expert Posts: 30 ✭✭
    Re: How much does it cost?

    Southwest Oklahoma
    Southwest Windpower Skystream 3.7
    Turbine Cost $4200
    Total Cost with installation on 42 ft guyed tower: $7000 (including the $4200 above).

    I did every last bit of the work myself, including concrete work. I have an electric winch on my carhauler trailer that I used to raise/lower the tower by myself. The Skystream provides 240 VAC split-phase, tied directly into the grid. I've been happy with this unit for the money I have in the project.

    But, if you'd like to make serious power from a wind turbine and have the $$$, then check out: http://www.bergey.com
  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: How much does it cost?

    I agree with all of what Bill says, with one exception. My experiance with cfl has been great. You just have to look around for different K color options and different bulb shape objects. We have no incandesents in our house. We have dimmable bulb shaped, flood and spot, warm whites etc. The only drawback is that they take a second or two to warm up.

    As to the wind. It is a high maintenence item, that often lives in a harsh environment. (As i write this, we are in the midst of a winter storm with 24mph steady winds, gusting to 45. This will go on for 24 hrs, and repeat every few days. I am tempted always on nights like this to do wind,,,but I stick with the solar.)

    Icarus