OPTIONS FOR GETTING STARTED IN WIND POWER

Build your own!

Building a wind generator from scratch is not THAT difficult of a project. You will need a shop with basic power and hand tools, and some degree of dedication. Large wind generators of 2000 Watts and up are a major project needing very strong construction, but smaller ones in the 1000 Watt, 8-11 foot range can be built fairly easily from scrapped car parts and be up and flying in a week! In fact, we highly recommend that you tackle a smaller wind turbine before even thinking about building a large one. You'll need to be able to cut and weld steel, and a metal lathe can be handy (though you could hire a machine shop that turns brake rotors do do some small steps for you).

OPTIONS FOR GETTING STARTED IN WIND POWER

Build your own!Building a wind generator from scratch is not THAT difficult of a project. You will need a shop with basic power and hand tools, and some degree of dedication. Large wind generators of 2000 Watts and up are a major project needing very strong construction, but smaller ones in the 1000 Watt, 8-11 foot range can be built fairly easily from scrapped car parts and be up and flying in a week! In fact, we highly recommend that you tackle a smaller wind turbine before even thinking about building a large one. You'll need to be able to cut and weld steel, and a metal lathe can be handy (though you could hire a machine shop that turns brake rotors do do some small steps for you).

In most locations, GENTLE winds (5-15 mph) are the most common, and strong winds are much more rare. As you'll see by examining our latest machines, our philosophy about designing wind turbines is to make large, sturdy machines that produce good power in low wind speeds, and are able to survive high wind events while still producing maximum power. The power available in the wind goes up by a factor of 8 as the windspeed doubles.

Other critical factors are rotor size and tower height. The power a wind turbine can harvest goes up by almost a factor of 4 as you double the rotor size. And making a tower higher gets you above turbulence for better performance and substially increased power output. Putting a wind turbine on a short tower is like mounting solar panels in the shade!

Before you jump into building your own wind turbine or buying a commercial one, do your homework! There are certain things that work and certain things that don't, and you can save hours and dollars by learning from other people's successes and mistakes. Some recommended reading:

• DanF's series on Small Wind Turbine Basics, published in the Energy Self Sufficiency Newsletter:
  • Part 1 -- How wind turbines work, power available in the wind, swept area, average wind speed and what it really means. The basic essentials!
  • Part 2 -- High wind survival mechanisms, wind turbine types, drag vs. lift machines, HAWTs vs. VAWTs, tip speed ratio, blade design, and lots of cool pictures and diagrams.
  • Part 3 -- Choosing a site, good and bad site examples, anemometers, tower types, lightning protection, power regulaton, birds and bats.
• More homebrew wind power articles here on Otherpower.com:
  • Designing and building simple wind turbine blades.
  • Tips on designing, building and flying wind generators.
  • Choosing alternators/generators for wind power.
  • Designing and building towers for wind turbines.
  • Glossary of wind power terms.
• Wind power information from homebrew wind power guru Hugh Piggott's website. We've learned a BUNCH from Hugh.
• Hugh Piggott's book Windpower Workshop is an indispensable reference for anyone that's thinking about building a wind turbine. His Axial Flux Alternator Windmill Plans are very detailed and highly recommended.
• Homebrew wind power infomation from Ed Lenz's Windstuffnow.com, a highly informative website.
• Read the Renewable energy FAQs on the Otherpower discussion board, and Search the Otherpower.com discussion board. It's highly active and populated by windpower experts and hobbyists worldwide. If you still can't find and answer, by all means please join the board and ask your question there!
• Join the AWEA mailing list for more discussion with wind power experts worldwide.
• Explore other wind power websites from worldwide on our Links page.

Category: Wind Power

2008-03-10 06:24:51: Posted by: madelyn

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• July 29, 2010, 5:52 am - SATEESH KUMAR P

  I WANT TO do THIS PROJECT MY OWN...IS U CAN SUPPORT IF U HAVE AN IDEA ABOUT AIR WIND PRIJECT.. PLEAS SEND THROUGH MAIL... MY EMAIL ID. sateeshkumar.patimi@gmail.com THANK U..

• July 29, 2010, 5:51 am - SATEESH KUMAR P

  I WANT TO TO THIS PROJECT MY OWN...IS U CAN SUPPORT IF U HAVE AN IDEA ABOUT AIR WIND PRIJECT.. PLEAS SEND THROUGH MAIL... MY EMAIL ID. sateeshkumar.patimi@gmail.com THANK U..