Solar Power: Cheaper than Wind?

Re: Solar Power: Cheaper than Wind?

It is actually more complicated than that... A Solar Panel will see, on average around 4-5 hours of sun per day (based on 1,000 Watts per sq. meter average noontime sun):

4 hours / 24 hours per day = 0.17 = 17% "daily efficiency"

A wind turbine probably runs around 10% of rated power for "good quality" home turbine in a typical install (if you can find one of those) up to 30% for a megawatt monster on 120+ foot tower. The much maligned Skystream on a 60' tower has been reported to get over 30% of rated power in a windy region during a windy month (was it near lake Erie?)--When it was working. Here is an example of a Skystream production (I think I trust the numbers--There was a "history" behind this installation):

BB. wrote: »

There was one Skystream owner (blog.keepturning.com website long since abandoned) (near Lake Erie?) during the good months, as I remember:

JANES HOUSEHOLD SKYSTREAM kWh RECORD

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

Total

2007

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

175

225

0*

400

2008

98*

292

308
246
228
153
92
84
97
164
246
472
2,480

2009

265
348
244
371
182
86
90
84
250
100
194
131*
2,345

2010

101
130
























* December, 2007 - Skystream shut down from software problem with cold and would not restart.
* January, 2008 - Skystream down until the 27th. Produce 98kWh in the 5 days remaining in the month.
* December, 2009 - Skystream shut down several times and would not restart on it's own, production very low for wind speeds.
* January, 2010 - Production very low for wind speeds.
* February, 2010 - Production very low for wind speeds.

-Bill

2,480 kWH per year / (1.8 kW rated * 24 hours * 365 days) = 0.16 = 16% yearly efficiency
472 kWH per month peak / (1.8 kW rated * 24 hours * 30 days) = 0.36 = 36% peak monthly efficiency

And from Poster Ralph Day:

Ralph Day wrote: »

Ok, realworld results from SWWP...

My H80 1kw turbine provides between 600 and 700 kwhr per year on my hybrid solar/wind/diesel off grid setup (wind resource 4.5m/sec average) (10 mph--BB). That's about 20% of the renewables per year. One rebuild of bearings and bushings after 5.5years of operation. Simple and flying again in a day (I didn't source parts from SWWP).

Would I buy SWWP again? Probably not, their reputation is shot. Would I replace the wind turbine? Probably not, I now have utility power to charge batteries for considerably less cost than wind or diesel (or solar for that matter...see signature).

Ralph

~650 kWH per year / (1 kW * 24 hours * 365 days per year) = 0.07 = 7% efficiency

And that is one of the big issues with wind. You can get decent (and much better than solar) "efficiency"--But that is only when the wind is blowing (perhaps 3 months a year for some folks). Otherwise, you would be hard pressed to get 5%-10% in much of the rest of the year even with a good install.

While the sun is available/predictable at 4 hours per day or more (for much of north America) and >9 months of the year on average.

On a price per kWH generated--The turbines continue to be the "cheap" part of the install... towers, electrical, concrete, labor, cranes/winches/maintenance continue to be major costs for a typical installation.

For Chris Olson, building his own "rugged" turbines and placing them on a 90' self supporting tower combined with long/dark/windy winters (Wisconsin)--He has been very happy with his results. But he has the tools to do his own manufacturing and installations. I am sure his still puts a fair amount of personal labor and money (towers, concrete, electronics, personal support equipment) into his installations too.

-Bill