Wind Turbines

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Background Information

Here are some pages that outline the costs and practicalities of domestic wind turbines.

• 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.

Here are some details of Small Systems Suppliers from the BWEA website:

Company	Phone	Membership type
Ampair (Boost Energy Systems)	01344 303 311	Correspondent	website	email	more info
Brumac Wind Systems Ltd	01561378899	Correspondent	website	email	more info
Chalcroft Construction	01386 561965	Company	website	email	more info
Econcern	+31 30 2808300	Company	website	email	more info
Iskra Wind Turbine Manufacturers Limited	0845 838 0588	Correspondent	website	email	more info
Marlec Engineering Co Ltd	01536 201 588	Correspondent	website	email	more info
Proven Energy Limited	01560 485 570	Correspondent	website	email	more info
Renewable Devices Ltd	0131 535 3301	Company	website	email	more info
Segen Ltd	01252 401025	Correspondent	website	email	more info
Windsave Ltd	0141 4207400	Company	website	email	more info
XCO2 / Quiet Revolution	020 7700 1000	Correspondent	website	email	more info

Our Windsave Wind Turbine is No More

[19 Nov 2011]

After four years being mounted on the end of our house, the Windsave 1kW wind turbine has finally been taken down. It was dismantled by crew ...

North Norfolk Wind Turbine Needs Support

[04 Sep 2011]

North Norfolk farmer John Mack (& son David) need your supportive comments for their Genatec wind turbine planning application. Consultation ...

How about a DIY Wind Turbine?

[21 Apr 2006]

You can build a wind turbine yourself! And Hugh Pigott appears to be the man when it comes to DIY wind turbines. He designs and builds all ...

FIXED: WS-1000 Wind Turbine!

[20 Feb 2011]

After almost a year of inactivity, our wind turbine is now ready to turn again! In March last year we noticed that the bottom bolt (directly ...

Vertical Wind EnergyTurbine

[31 Jul 2010]

Vertical Wind Energy Ltd has developed a 6kW wind turbine unit, designed so that the blades are vertical and spinning around a vertically-aligned ...

Windsave Turbine Getting Blown Over

[14 Mar 2010]

We have some unfortunate news to report: our wind turbine, installed 2.5 years ago by The Mark Group (for Windsave), is on the tilt. It's crooked ...

Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) for existing installations

[14 Feb 2010]

Early adopters of electricity micro-generation are set to be kicked in the teeth, will miss out on decent new tariffs. If you feel that this ...

Saboteur Gets Knife In Back

[18 Jan 2010]

The saboteur that viciously brought down the Unity Wind Weather Mast at the end of last year must be really, really gutted now. Their actions ...

North Walsham Met Mast Is Up!

[25 Oct 2009]

We got ourselves into the EDP (Eastern Daily Press) this Saturday, as the weather mast for the North Walsham wind turbine project was erected ...

I Killed the Bird said the Wind Turbine

[03 Jun 2009]

This is the first time (in around a year and a half of operation) that we've seen any sign of death to bird life due to our wind turbine. ...

Wind Farm Radar Problems May Have Solution

[14 Feb 2009]

Cambridge Consultants (Cleantec) believes it has developed a solution to 'radar blindness' caused by wind turbines. Existing radar systems ...

Red Tape Blowing In The Wind

[02 Jan 2009]

Windfarms are being held up by red tape. This is according to the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) as reported in the Guardian on 29 December ...

Vertical Axis DIY Wind Turbine

[07 Jan 2008]

OneToRemember has a free-to-download set of plans for a vertical axis wind turbine. In only five or six hours you should have a turbine that ...

WS-1000 Keeps Cutting Out

[22 Feb 2008]

These videos show how our wind turbine starts spinning up really well, then almost instantly stops dead again. It definitely looks like the ...