How high can i go in the air

t12zh
t12zh Solar Expert Posts: 62 ✭✭✭✭
in Wind Power Generation #1
I am in Pueblo colorado 81006.
How high in the air can i go with a wind generator.
Wher do i find this info.
Greg
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,683 admin
    #2
    Re: How high can i go in the air

    Not quite sure what your question is... How high should your tower be? How high in the mountains can you get before you loose power? How high your turbine should be above obstructions?

    Anyway, Bergey has some pretty good basic information (and spreadsheets) to help you model/calculate how much power you would get from a site...

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • t12zh
    t12zh Solar Expert Posts: 62 ✭✭✭✭
    #3
    Re: How high can i go in the air

    I'm sorry.
    What i need to know is how high off the ground can i legaly go up in the air for my area i live in. 81006 zip code.
    Greg
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  • Ralph Day
    Ralph Day Solar Expert Posts: 1,026 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: How high can i go in the air

    Lots of great technical stuff to be found from forum members here, however that question might best be directed at the local building authorities and/or the FAA. you don't want to have construction finished and be slapped down because of height restrictions near airways or airports. Call around locally (cell phone providors, local tv stations maybe) and see if they can give some direction.


    Best of luck.

    ralph
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: How high can i go in the air

    ralph is right as you may have your local inspector's permission, but the faa may require lights on your tower if it is that high regardless of how close to any airports you are. i don't know if you'll be looking at a height that large, but radio/tv towers have to have those lights to prevent planes from hitting them especially at night when the tower can't normally be seen. odds are that the tower requirement you will need won't be that high as most times 20ft or more above the nearby obstacles is all that's needed. you do gain some power going higher, but the costs get much higher.
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  • Solar Guppy
    Solar Guppy Solar Expert Posts: 1,989 ✭✭✭
    #6
    Re: How high can i go in the air

    Check with your Zoning and Building departments, many locations prohibit towers of ANY kind
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #7
    Re: How high can i go in the air

    Be very careful of messing around with airports, airplanes and the FAA. I believe it was in the Oklahoma City area around Wiley Post airport a ham radio operator checked on the need for tower lights since he was near the airport. The FAA told him that lights were not required on his tower due to its height and his distance from the runway. (It would make sense that if he was required to have lights, he'd also have to have the tower painted as well.)

    Anyway, being the nice guy and very safety conscious, he decided to put some lights on the tower anyway. A few weeks later, the FAA drops by and tells him that the lights do not meet FAA specifications and he must install FAA-compliant lighting on the tower. The lighting was going to cost more than his tower and antenna system combined, so he decided that he'd just remove the lights. The FAA said, "Nooooooo! Once lit, always lit!" It would have been illegal for him to remove the lights and he was required to install the FAA-compliant lighting.

    Seems to me that I read this in a ham radio magazine, so I don't think it's urban lore, but I think the bottom line is to NOT light the tower unless required to do so.

    Dean
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #8
    Re: How high can i go in the air

    dean,
    welcome. your story is very interesting and i am certainly not surprised. if that were my case i'd have taken down the tower as they can't force you to keep the tower up just for the sake of lights for planes. seeing as how it isn't a requirement for a new tower to have the lights, as was his case in the first place, then re-erecting it later they couldn't say anything about it imo, but this is a battle of illogic to begin with and you always lose when it's with a government agency. i guess the bottom line is not to assume one way or another.:confused::cry:
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