Wind Power: Is it Right for You?

This the third in our series of articles on wind turbine generators, we will take a look at picking a location for your wind turbine and choosing a tower to put it on. It is not recommended that you install it on your house, as they tend to vibrate and make some noise; which the attic of your house will amplify into a very annoying noise. When mounted on a tower generally speaking they do not make enough noise to be a problem.

In looking at your site, the first thing you need to know is how much wind do you really get, you could ask your neighbors, but even thought they might say " we get a lot of wind round these parts" it's not a very reliable answer for your needs. Instead the government has made available an atlas that shows the wind averages for the entire country. You can find it online at DOE Wind Energy Resource Atlas or an alternative site is the National Climactic Data Center, either of these can tell you if you have enough regular wind to generate power. When deciding on the height of your tower; it needs extend at least 20-30 feet above the nearest obstacle such as houses or trees, this will ensure that it gets a smooth flow of wind.

If you are planning a tower that has to be climbed for maintenance, you will not need much space around it. If climbing heights is not your thing, and you plan a tower that can be tipped over and lowered to the ground for maintenance, be sure to include enough room for the tower to be lowered all the way to the ground and for a way to raise it back up. The most common way to raise the tower back up is by using a gin pole and winch.A "gin pole" is a length of pole that is attached to the tower in such a fashion that when the tower is up, it lays flat on the ground and when the tower is down, it is standing up in the air, so that the winch has something to pull on to raise the tower back up into its operating position. This type of tower does require a much larger area of clear ground to use though since you must have a place for the tower to lie down and for the "gin pole" to lie when the tower is up.

The permanent tower is usually of a lattice type construction that is assembled in sections, with the turbine mounted on the top. Maintenance is done by climbing to the top of the tower and working there. These types of towers can come in 2 different styles, the square ones that are the same size from top to bottom and require guy wires to keep them upright and the pyramid shaped ones that are free standing with no guide wires. In the end the choice is yours to make depending on cost, location and local laws, each of them will do the job and they each have advantages and disadvantages so choose carefully.

In our next article we will start looking at the design of the generator itself and some basic facts about the design.

Sources: http://motherearthnews.com , http://google.com , http://otherpower.com