Wind Turbines

Background Information

• A Wind and Wind Power Report from the Iowa Energy Center gives technical descriptions of wind power, and what affects it, plus how to measure it.
• Green Living (James Lea, June 2005) analyses the cost and comes up with a surprising answer.
• The Guardian (John Vidal, November 2003) published an article about the Windsave turbine system.
• The BBC (October 2005) talks about the financials, planning considerations and how much difference it might make.
• Windsave.com promotes their product, and explains a lot of safety aspects to mains-voltage electricity generation.
• Eclectic Energy They are Nottingham-based and sell the D400 StealthGen, costing £875.00 plus installation costs. It only produces 40W at 10 knots.
• Renewable Devices sells the Swift 1.5kW turbine, which currently costs £5000 for purchase and installation.
• Proven Energy has pretty tough turbines, and gives prices and grant information for its range (starting at over £7000 for a 600W (@12m/s) mast-mounted grid-connect installation.
• WindTrap.co.uk has a budget wind turbine kit (under £500) that's designed to store excess electricity in batteries, which then power the mains through an invertor. This would save electricity, but wouldn't put excess electricity back into the Grid.
• The Energy Saving Trust has a section on Domestic Electricity generation.
• The British Wind Energy Association explains the different types of Small Wind Technology, and how to get started.
• Wind and Sun Ltd has loads of practical advice and a highly confusing price list.
• The Solar Energy Alliance has prices on various scales of wind turbine. They're based in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
• Homemade Wind Turbines Forum - quite quiet, but worth a look.
• A to Z Generators A wind turbine generator resource.

Vertical Axis DIY Wind Turbine

In response to Richard Jemmett's comment on OneToRemember, here are some other plans:

• Free Windpower Guide
• A Do-It-Yourself Guide To Energy Star Home Sealing
• Add up your car costs

2008-06-29 20:47:26 richard jemmett says: "There are lots of other free plans too. Plus ebooks and boosk on sustainable living and renewable energy. Plus if you joing the OneToRemember affiliate scheme you can earn some money for linking to their products. Earn some green cash!"

WS-1000 Keeps Cutting Out

Wind 'could power all UK homes'

Close-ups of the WS-1000

The WS-1000 is Installed

It is already spinning merrily, and has produced its first 0.1kWh of electricity (all of 1p or so!). In a medium breeze you can hear it 'swishing' quite cleary, and the electricity generated is inconsiderable. We usually get far more wind than this, so it remains to be seen how much it is capable of and how noisy it will get.

Stream 1 Grants: Trying to Apply

• Magnetek SPA
• Outback Power Systems Inc.
• SMA Regelsysteme GmbH
• SPS (Energy Equipment Testing Services Ltd)
• Studer Innotec
• Xantrex

One thing the application asks for is the ex-VAT price. The turbine attracts 5% VAT, and the ex-VAT price (installed) for the WS-1000 is £1428.

One bit of good news for us is that the grants allocation is no longer budgeted monthly; the full lump of money is available, until used up.

13:15 - We have now made a successful application. 'Sue' on the DTI helpline said to select any invertor manufacturer/product to push the form submission through; this is completely contradictory to what we were told first thing this morning. Anyways, the grant offer means that we need to pay £1000 +5% VAT. Here is the final message:

Thank you for applying to the Low Carbon Buildings Programme. Congratulations, your application has been successful!

You will shortly receive an email containing details of your grant application. Please read this carefully and check that all grant details are correct.

13:17 - A call to the Mark Group to arrange an installation date reveals that they are waiting for the kit from Windsave, and will be informing customers directly to arrange an installation date. We need to call them in 2 weeks (13 June) if we haven't been contacted.

After this two-month suspension in grants, you'd think that Windsave would have everything ready to go! Delays delays delays....

Low Carbon Householder Grants Re-Launched!

Our chosen turbine is accredited in the Clear Skies Wind Turbines Section:
Windsave Ltd WS1000 micro-wind inc. "Plug'n'Save"grid tied inverter Building mounted micro-wind turbine system Model: WS1000 listed on 28/11/2005 with Clear-Skies Product Code: WT5029

Our chosen installer (the Mark Group) is also listed as an accredited installer:
Ref# 2142667 Mark Group / Mark Insulations 70 Boston Road Leicester Leicestershire LE4 1AW, Tel: 0116 236 6523, Email: bill.rumble@markgroup.co.uk

Application forms and guidance notes for the re-launched householder grant scheme are now available on the Low-Carbon website from 29 May.

The grant funding restrictions for wind turbines are:

• Maximum of £1,000 per kW of installed capacity
• overall maximum of £2,500 or 30% of the relevant eligible costs, whichever is the lower

Here are some other links recommended by BBC's MoneyBox:

GREEN ENERGY AT HOME

Energywatch consumer helpline - 08459 06 07 08
Energy Saving Trust helpline - 0800 915 7722
Energy Efficiency Advice Centres - 0800 512 012

Low Carbon Grants Suspended

Here is a direct email response I received:

In the Budget 07, the Chancellor announced that a further £6 million will be made available to the household stream of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme through to June 2008, taking the total available for householders to more than £18 million.

We are discussing in detail the restructuring of the scheme with industry to ensure we can make the best use of the additional funds, and to address the operational difficulties that have been encountered over recent months.

Taking into account the work required to re-shape the scheme, we have taken the necessary step to suspend the scheme for the monthly allocation in April, with a view to restarting the household stream of the programme in May 2007.

Check the website for further announcements as they are made: http://www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk/home/.

Sally Millward Microgeneration Department of Trade and Industry

Carbon Reduction Meetings in North Walsham

You can attend the North Walsham Community Centre (on New Road, next to the library) on Tuesday April 3, from 18:30 to 21:30. There will be experts covering a wide range of topics including wind turbines, solar heating, photovoltaics, ground source heat pumps and biomass.

Broadland District Council has a DIY scheme for solar powered hot water, and they will be on hand with a demonstration. Planning requirements shall be explained by a member of the NNDC planning team.

The North Norfolk Environment Forum is also holding a couple of meetings:

• April 18, 19:30 A public meeting telling North Walsham residents about a community wind project called UnityWind that intends to put any profits back into the community.
• April 25 The Forum's AGM at the NNDC Offices in Cromer.

Turbine Planning Permission: Information Required

The purpose for 1:1250 location plan and site plan is for the Local Planning Authority to accurately establish the exact site and location of the development; and that there is no element of doubt of the applicant's intentions.

It is always useful if the manufacturers brochure/marketing package is included as part of the application; as this indicates the style/size; details of height/freestanding/building mounted (type of affixation)/diameter of blade/colour; would be extremely helpful. As much information to support the proposal is the best policy.

To assist our Environmental Health colleagues with their consideration of wind generator proposals; it would be extremely helpful if at the time of submission of an application information containing noise/vibration/blade flicker etc was included as part of the application.

It is understood that Windsave are in the process of producing a report of the 'technical' data to include noise levels/vibration etc; it is further understood this will be available in the near future.

Planning Permission Granted!

So now we have to apply for a grant, but now that's not straighforward. Here's a quote from the LowCarbon website:

You can also call your local Energy Saving Trust advice centre on 0800 512012 for guidance on energy efficiency measures and energy efficiency grants available in your area.

Please note that there is a cap on funds available each month for householder grants. The funds for March have now been allocated. Grants for householders are issued on a first come, first served basis until the monthly funding pot is fully allocated. Funding is made available at 9am on the first working day of the month. Funds will re-open on April 2nd at 9am.

Their excuse for the funds cap is this:

The total fund available to the household stream is now £12.7 million, up from £6.5 million due to a higher than expected demand.

The higher than anticipated demand since the scheme was launched has meant that the limited funds available to householders would have been exhausted by early 2007. Introducing a monthly cap enables the funds to last to June 2008.

From 1 December 2006, householders will be able to apply for funding from a £0.5 million pot. This amount will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.

We shall call the Mark Group (0845 3904390), to inform that we have planning approval but won't get a grant decision until April.
We won't send in the contract until we have grant letter.
What we don't know is the lead time on installation.

There are bureaucratic delays every step of the way.... we wonder if we shall get the turbine installed before the planning permission expires!

2007-05-07 05:05:22 Mr Payne says: "regarding the wind turbines at the crane's site north walsham. I am a resident of bardfield rd and have been since my birth. i am frankly disgusted with the idea of this proposal. the first we heard of this was when temporary planning permission had already been granted. where was our chance of objecting this before what seems to be this had been sneeked in the back door?? i have visited the sites at both yarmouth and caistor both of which are a great distance away from residential areas and the reasons are apparent. the noise levels from these turbines are remarkable! the proposed site would render the resonable peace and quite of our gardens a thing of the past. this will cause residents nothing but stress and heart ache not to mention the financial downturn in our properties. if you could send me the address where i can make a formal objection to this plan i would be most grateful. yours sincerely MR O PAYNE "

Environmental Impact Assessment

Clearly there have been other approved installations of the WS-1000, but discovering environmental impact assessment research into these might be tricky. We naturally hope that the assessment is speedy and positive, but the council may be wary of opening the floodgates to other applications.

To be honest we wouldn't be happy if the turbines had a negative noise assessment throughout the warranty period of the turbine, and would make a lot of noise ourselves if we or our neighbours weren't happy. The product is being marketed as a 'bolt on the side of your house' solution and must therefore be quiet enough for that use.

The Planning Application

• North Norfolk District Council Planning Guidance
• To make an online application we use the Government's Planning Portal, with a Walkthrough Guide.
• Windsave has made available a Technical Drawing of the WS-1000.

• Register and Login to the planning portal
• Create a new proposal
• Fill out the online forms. For our application all we need to complete is a Householder Application.
• Create a site location plan - by buying a chunk of map online and drawing the plan on it electronically. The fee appears to be around £20 for a 1:1250 plan of 4 hectares (plenty for a typical house).
• Attach files to the proposal
• Calculate the fee
• Submit the application

Site Survey

• The TV aerial would have to move - to at least 2m clear of the position of the wind turbine. Apparently the turbine does create some electromagnetic interference, plus the aerial in its current position (right at the top of the gable end) would be in the way.
• It would be possible to position the turbine below the ridge line, further towards the back of the house, if planning permission was to be a problem.
• The invertor unit measures 24" high, 10" wide and 6" deep, which would fit neatly in the kitchen cupboard that also houses the fuse box. This unit would however require a fused spur, which would be achieve by sacrificing one of the mains sockets nearby.

I checked with our council (North Norfolk) about planning permission, and they still treat wind turbines the same as any addition to a dwelling. If the entirety of the turbine (including blades) stays below the ridgeline of the house them no permission is required. Otherwise, we need to cough up £138 and wait 6 weeks for the planning notice to run its course. The extra efficiency achieved by the higher positioning of the turbine is probably worth going down the planning route. The council is in receipt of technical documentation from Windsave on the WS-1000, so all we need to provide in our application is site information, including the survey results provided by the Mark Group.