Wind Power Projects

You will find good material here on how to evaluate your site for wind power (very important), how wind systems work, how to size a wind system for your needs, and lots of information on DIY and homemade wind turbines and commercial systems.

Directory for this page:

Wind Power Basics
Logging Wind Velocity
DIY Windmills
Wind Applications
History
Sampling of wind turbine suppliers
Water pumping windmills

Questions?
Report Broken Links ...

Watch Out For Wind Turbine Power Ratings:
The power ratings usually given by the manufacturers for wind turbines are nearly useless, in that they are determined at wind speeds much higher that you will normally see. A good rough formula to keep in mind in evaluating different wind turbines is:

Annual Output (KWH/year) = 0.01328 (D^2) (V^3) source...

Where D^2 is the blade diameter in feet squared, and V^3 is the wind velocity cubed in mph -- this is the year round average wind speed -- see wind maps below. Wind turbine energy production

So, a 10 ft diameter wind turbine in 12 mph average winds might produce about (0.01328)(10^2)(12^3) = 2300 KWH/year

Note that the energy produced is proportional to the cube of wind speed -- having enough average wind speed is everything in wind turbines. Use the wind maps discussed below and a wind survey of your site to determine if a wind turbine will actually payoff.

The graph is of the wind energy equation shown above for various wind speeds and turbine blade diameters. ---------------------------------------------->

ARE wind turbine in Oregon photo by J. Hall

Wind Power Basics
Step One -- Avoid the scams	There are some very heavily advertised guides for sale on the Internet in the $50 range that promise that you can make a small wind turbine that will provide "80%" of your homes power for a couple hundred dollars. You can be sure that anyone making these kinds of claims is a scammer -- don't waste your money. You will find plenty of free information below for reputable sources.
Wind Power for Dummies, Ian Woofenden, 2009	If you are interested in a wind turbine installation for your house, this is probably the best $20 you can spend. Ian is a very long time wind expert -- he does wind workshops from his wind powered home in the San Juan's, and has been the wind expert/editor/author for Home Power for many years. The book covers the whole process of investigating whether wind is workable for you, how to find the right wind turbine and tower, and all the rest. The best getting started reference you will find.
Small Wind Electric System -- U.S. Consumer's Guide, Wind & Hydropower Technologies Program, EERE www.eere.energy.gov ,,, A US consumer wind guide, as well as guides for many state. Other wind publications as well	A good guide for residential size wind turbines. Covers restrictions on locations, wind required for good performance, sizing turbine to meet your needs, cost and economic return. The state guides include wind maps for the state in question.
Wind-Electric Systems simplified, Ian Woofenden How to get articles from Home Power ...	Home Power Magazine issue 110, Dec/Jan 2006. A introduction to the various types wind powered electric generating systems and the components that make them up.
Wind Turbine Buyer's Guide, Mick Sagrillo, Ian Woofenden How to get articles from Home Power ...	Home Power magazine article, issue 143, June/July 2011. A very good article from two recognized wind power experts that provides some good and realistic advice for people thinking about a wind turbine . Covers all the basics, and provides a rundown on wind turbine models available in the US/Canada. If you are serious about wanting to install a wind turbine that will generate the amount of energy you expect, and will not be a nightmare to maintain, this article is a must. The other critical item that is not covered in detail is making sure your site has sufficient wind to make a wind turbine work -- this is covered in articles below.
Wind Power -- Renewable Energy for Home, Farm, and Business Paul Gipe's web site: www.wind-works.org	Wind Power, 2004 edition, Paul Gipe An excellent, all around, in depth book on wind power. Paul Gipe's website has a lot of good articles and reference material.
Got Wind? -- How to use the Wind Resource Atlas of the United States Another US set of wind maps: www.eere.energy.gov and, another: www.eere.energy.gov... (has some more detailed maps for NW) Similar for Canada: http://www.windatlas.ca/en/index.php	The Wind Resource Atlas of the United States will give you a rough idea if you are in a locations with wind potential -- here is how to use it.
NREL Wind Turbine Payback Spreadsheet www.eere.energy.gov ... (Thanks to Derek for relocating the lost link to this useful tool)	This spread sheet from NREL allows you estimate the economic return from a wind turbine on your site. You enter information on your wind turbine, your site, and financing -- it provides a graph of cash flows over time. You will need a good estimate of the average wind on your site, and the cost to install to get useful numbers from this spreadsheet.
Site Analysis for Wind Generators Mick Sagrillo How to get articles from Home Power ....	HomePower Magazine article, issues 40 and 41 The most important factor in determining if you can successfully use wind power is how much wind you have. This is not an easy thing to determine -- this article tells you how.
Scoraig Wind -- Hugh Piggott's Homepage http://www.scoraigwind.com/	Hugh Piggott's excellent web site on building wind generators. Plans and design information on building a wind generators from scratch. Plans, books, workshops, .... The "Windpower Workshop" book gets very good reviews from people who want to build their own (as do his actual workshops).
Anatomy of A Wind Turbine, Ian Woofenden, Hugh Piggott, How to get articles from Home Power ...	Home Power Magazine article, issue 116 A good basics article explaining the internals of a wind turbine. Good to understand whether you want to build one or buy one.
The American Wind Energy Association http://www.awea.org/	A good reference website for wind power. Some valuable materials for people interested in small wind systems. Lots of good material.
Apples and Oranges 2002 -- Choosing a Home-Sized Wind Generator Mike Sagrillo How to get articles from Home Power ...	Home Power magazine article, issue 90 Some good advice on choosing a home size wind generator from the guru. Lots of comparison specifications for numerous commercial wind generator offerings.
Tower Economics 101, 102 and 103 Mick Sagrillo How to get articles from Home Power ....	HomePower Magazine article, issues 37 -- 39 Very good article on the economic benefits of using a tall tower, and how to decide how tall.
Harvest the Wind Michael Hackleman and Claire Anderson Mother Earth News http://www.motherearthnews.com	Mother Earth News Article, Issue 192 Good introduction to determining if a wind system will work for you, and the important elements of a wind system.
Kid Wind http://www.kidwind.org/	A site intended for students wanting to learn about wind power, but lots of good materials anyone interested in wind power -- including lots of hands on building projects.
Ontario Landowner's Guide to Wind Energy" (free download) Paul Gipe and Jame Murphy http://www.ontario-sea.org/	A guide for land owners considering installing one or more large wind turbines on their land.
Logging Wind Velocity These gadgets log wind speeds over an extended period to see if you have enough wind to make a wind generator pay off.
Jarvis (and other) Wind Data Logger Backwoods Solar (and select "Windmills"): www.BackwoodsSolar.com APRS World, LLC: http://www.aprsworld.com/products/	Jarvis wind data logger will record wind over an extended period for import to a PC spread sheet. You can then calculate what a particular windmill model will deliver. About $180.
Inspeed Wind Speed/Direction Loggers www.inspeed.com/wind_data_logging/Default.asp	Several options for measuring and logging wind speed and direction. Some are kits. Some of the solutions require a PC to be on at all times to log data, so you would want to have a very low power use PC.
Piclog - PicAxe based Wind Logger www.thebackshed.com/Windmill/PicLog.asp	This is a wind logger based on the PicAxe microprocessor chip that you can build yourself. It interfaces to a PC to store and view the data. Another PicAxe based logger with built in data storage ...
Windmeter/Anemometer by Infidigm http://www.infidigm.net/projects/windmeter/	DIY windmeter to measure and record wind speeds. The experts recommend measuring wind speed at your site for a year before investing in a wind turbine. Here is one way to do it. Another option is to install of the small wind turbines (like a Air X) and use it to see how much power a larger wind turbine would generate.
DIY Windmill Plans and Information
Scoraig Wind -- Hugh Piggott's Homepage http://www.scoraigwind.com/	Hugh Piggott's excellent web site on building wind generators. Plans and design information on building a wind generators from scratch. Plans, books, workshops, .... The "Windpower Workshop" book gets very good reviews from people who want to build their own (as do his actual workshops).
OtherPower.com http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_wind.html www.otherpower.com/otherpower_experiments.html http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_wind_tips.html http://www.otherpower.com/17page1.html	Quite a source of nitty-gritty detailed information on building wind generators. Many projects described.
Homebrew Wind Power, Dan Bartmann and Dan Fink, 2009, 320 pages http://www.forcefieldmagnets.com/... The Dan's website -- consulting, training, seminars... .	A very good new book from the two Dans that run the OtherPower.com website (just above). The book gives very detailed instructions on how to build a 10 ft wind turbine. The design of the turbine is one that the Dans have perfected over the years. Complete instructions are included for building the alternator, furling tail assembly, and carving the blades. All of these part designs benefit for years of refinement and many workshops. Most of the parts for the turbine can be locally purchased, while some of the more difficult to find parts can be purchased from OtherPower. The book also covers scaling their design to other sizes, tower construction, and wind generator theory. More than of 300 pages of kind of information you only get through long experience and many builds. I would not try building a wind generator without reading this book and the Piggott books first.
User Diaries on the Fieldlines Forum...	If you don't mind wading through quite a few posts, there are some wind turbine project descriptions on the Fieldlines Forum under the User Diaries section -- often with a good set of pictures.
Tom's 5.5 KW, 20 ft diameter wind turbine and 140 ft tilt-up tower Full construction details...	Tom Sullivan's 20 ft diameter, 5.5KW wind turbine and a 140ft tall gin-pole tower. The turbine is Tom's version of a Prairie Technologies 5.5KW, grid tie, AC turbine. The 140 ft tower was completely designed and built by Tom. Quite a project! Full details ...
DIY Windmills from The Back Shed www.thebackshed.com/windmill/default.asp Detailed plans for a DIY windmill with a minimum of special parts and tools	This is a terrific site for build it yourself windmill information, and getting better all the time. It includes very detailed picture plans for a moderate size windmill based on the Fisher Paykel motor. The plans use standard steel sections, and a require a minimum in the way of special tools. Oct 09: this site gets better and better -- a great collection of material on home built wind machines.
"Now for the Wind Turbine" www.rockriver.us	A very good personal website on designing and installing a PV and wind system that is grid tied with battery backup. Lots of detail and helpful information on design, choosing components, installing, wiring, towers, suppliers, permitting, ...
Wind Poer to the People...	Kyle works out and builds some DIY wind turbine designs that require only simple tools and that don't break the bank. His site also lists many helpful resources for wind turbine designers and builders. "Through two generous grants from the University of Virginia, I set off to acomplish this goal during the summer of 2011. My plan was to design a micro wind turbine that could be built using nothing but hand tools, and did not need any machining, lathing, or components that were not easily available."
How I home-built an electricity producing Wind turbine www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/index.html	Mike shows the details on how he built his 4 ft wind turbine using a surplus DC motor for the generator. Full details are provided on the construction, as well as a number of useful design information links. Total cost was $140.
Wind Stuff Now http://www.windstuffnow.com/main/	Good personal site on DIY wind generator design and build. Several projects described, program for wind generator sizing. An interesting site with new "stuff" added frequently. Kits for small DIY windturbines. The Lenz2 turbine in picture at right is an ongoing project that was featured in Popular Science. --->
Building a Wind Generator From Scratch, Chuck Morrison http://wind.morrisonprairie.com/WindMachine.html	A very nice set of picture plans and text guidance for building a 7 ft diameter wind generator. Very detailed.
Wind Blue Power http://www.windbluepower.com/ Here is a series of videos for a wind gen built from the WindBlue alternator rotor: Part 1 ... Part 2 ... Part 3 ...	WindBlue sells full windmill kits as well as a selection of parts to make windmills -- including alternators, blades, tails, charge controllers, ... One nice thing about this site is that they are honest about the output of their windmill kit ...
Maine-Built Windmills From Scratch Everett Russell How to get articles from Home Power ...	Home Power Magazine article, issue 79 Good article on building wind generator system from scratch from someone who has been doing it since 1937.
Dragon Fly Wind Generator Plans/Kit http://dragonflypower.com/DragonBlerb.htm	Inexpensive plans for a 9ft diameter wind generator. Kits for some of the part also offered.
Colorado Wind Power www.coloradowindpower.com	A good "how to" on making what appear to be strong, lightweight composite wind turbine blades. Other material on this site of interest to DIYers, including making wood blades, stators, ...
Wind Odyssey Dick Anderson How to get articles from Home Power ...	Home Power Magazine article, issue 82 Very nice article on rebuilding an Enertech 1800 wind generator. Lots of detail on what's involved in a project like this.
Prototype 10 KW Wind Turbine Plans for 10 KW Wind Turbine (pdf) (Thanks to Tom for re-finding this link)	What appears to be a very professionally designed, large, home built wind turbine.
Old Jacobs -- Current Again Peter Kuebeck How to get articles from Home Power ...	Home Power Magazine article, issue 89 Good article on restoring used Jacobs wind generators.
Total Homebrew -- starting small to learn the basics Michael Lew How to get articles from Home Power ....	Home Power Magazine, issue #82 Good article on an all DIY very small scale wind generator system.
Old Jacobs -- Current Again Peter Kuebeck How to get articles from Home Power ...	Home Power Magazine article, issue 89 Good article on restoring used Jacobs wind generators.
Prairie Turbines Breezy 5.5 http://www.prairieturbines.com/	Prairie Turbines sells plans for a 5.5 KW wind turbine. The turbine is said to produce about 3 KW at 12 mph wind speed. And, that it can be built for about $4000.
The Wood 103 -- A wooden 100 Watt Wind Generator How to get articles from Home Power ...	Home Power Magazine article, issue 88 Being a woodworker, I really liked this article. It looks like a good way for one with woodworking skills to experiment with wind power generation.
Wind Generator from Fisher Paykel Washing Machine www.yourgreendream.com/diy_instructions.php	Detailed instructions on turning the motor from a Fisher Pakel washing machine into a wind turbine alternator from the Your Green Dream website. Because of its unique construction, this motor makes a good alternator.
Wind Power Applications
Betting the Farm -- Wind electricity Pays Off Fischer How to get articles from Home Power ...	Home Power magazine article, issue 96 Description of grid intertied medium size wind generation system. Details economics, planning and installation.
Building a really large wind turbine Construction pictures... Cashton Wind Farm ...	Some links that show the construction of a 2.5 megawatt wind turbine in Cashtonk, WI.
Wind Power History
A look at the 1855,m 20 meter diameter Veldkamps Meul'n windmill in Bellingwolde...	Fascinating pictures of an 1885 wind mill and all the internal mill machinery. 20 meter diameter, 4 blade traditional Dutch design. Still in operation.
A Sampling of Wind Generator Suppliers (listed alphabetically -- I have no direct experience with any of these suppliers -- so, beware!)
Bergey Wind Turbines http://www.bergey.com/	A well known supplier of small wind turbines.
Eoltec Wind Turbines http://www.eoltec.com/ www.pineridgeproducts.com	Makers of an 18 ft rotor diameter wind turbine.
Evance Wind www.evancewind.com	Evance Wind is a UK company that makes the 19 ft diameter R9000 wind turbine.
Fortis Wind Energy...	Fortis is a Dutch company that makes three wind turbine models ranging from the 10 ft diameter Passaat to the 23 ft diameter Alize.
Gaia-Wind www.gaia-wind.com	Gaia-Wind is a UK company that makes a 43 ft diameter two blade horizontal axis wind turbine.
Jacobs Wind Turbines http://www.windturbine.net/products.htm	A revival of the famous Jacobs wind turbines that were so popular and durable in the 20's.
Kestrel Wind Turbines www.dcpower-systems.com	Supplier of wind turbines with rotors ranging from 5 ft to 12ft diameter.
Mariah Power Windspire 1 KWH Vertical Axis Wind Turbine http://mariahpower.com... An Article from The Energy Blog...	A soon to be available vertical axis wind turbine. It is 30 ft high by 2 ft wide with guy wires. It is anchored in a concrete foundation. Said to produce 1900 KWH per year with an average 12 mph wind. Said to be very quiet. Price $4000.
Proven Energy Wind Turbines http://www.provenenergy.com/	Manufacturers of a line of wind turbines ranging from 8 to 30 ft rotor diameter.
quietrevolution Wind Turbines www.quietrevolution.com	A new vertical axis design that is targeted for urban locations.
Raum Energy http://www.raumenergy.com	Raum Energy is a Canadian company that makes 1.5 KW and a 3.5 KW wind turbines. Said to emphasize reliability and ease of installation.
Southwest Windpower www.windenergy.com	A well know supplier of small wind turbines ranging up to 15 ft rotor diameter.
Skystream 3.7 Wind Turbine from Southwest Windpower www.windenergy.com/products/skystream	This is kind of the opposite of Do-It-Yourself, but I thought it was interesting. The Skystream is a 12 ft diameter turbine that is designed for grid connected residential use. It comes as a package that includes all the electronics and grid tie inverter. Kind of a plug-and-play wind turbine. It claims to be designed to fit into residential areas -- low noise, street lamp type tower, ... About $15,000 plus installation. It is said to produce 400 KWH per month in winds averaging 12.3 mph. Some problems have been reported with low power output, so make sure this has been sorted out, and that you understand roughly how much power will be produced in your particular installation.
XZERES Wind http://www.xzeres.com	XZERES makes a 12 ft model 110 and a 24 ft diameter model 442SR horizontal axis wind turbines.
New Designs
Water Pumping Windmills
There is a section on water pumping windmills here...	Lots of information on functional and beautiful water pumping windmills.