cupra wrote:
Tom Bennett wrote:
Looking with interest at recent talk of making wind turbines
available at B&Q etc., exempting them from Planning restraints and
making Govt. grants available, made me wonder if they were really
suitable for all parts of the UK and if people were going to be
properly advised before they rush headlong into buying them. (In
case anyone gets the wrong impression, I should add that I'm an
advocate of any effective measure that can reduce out dependence on
fossil fuels)
We've had some indications that the payback period may be 10 years or
so (with a projected life of the unit of around the same!), although
the capital cost is bound to fall as demand increases and the Govt.
grants make a difference, but I'm more interested to find out if
anyone has looked at the windspeeds over the UK to work out where the
thresholds are for domestic units to become viable.

Where I am now (SW Essex) is markedly less breezy, throughout the
whole year, than lowland Co. Durham where I lived previously, with
far more calm days here than I ever experienced before, so I'm
surmising that any turbine I bought would lie idle for much more time
here than it would there. Conversely, I'd assume that, with the
stronger sunshine throughout the year, I would get more benefit here
from solar panels and photovoltaic cells, and the strength of the
sunlight and reduced cloudiness would outweigh the shorter day
lengths in the south in summer.
As things stand, I can see the more affluent south rushing out to buy
far more turbines than elsewhere, thinking they were doing right by
the planet, when in fact the overall benefit was nowhere near as
marked as they thought it would be. Wouldn't the Govt. be better off
focussing any grants to the areas better suited to the various
technologies that are available and provide the public with some
guidance *before* B&Q et al start cashing-in?
Just a thought.

- Tom
Blackmore, SW Essex.

Funnily enough, I've been into B&Q a lot lately and saw the appearance of
the turbine:

http://tinyurl.com/eqzf6

(takes you to)

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/na...1598796 93901

It's quoted at 1kW for wind speeds of 12.5m/s so I'll look at my data logs
(W.Somerset) with interest this winter to see what any payback would really
be....

Looking at the mechanics, it appears to be a fairly standard 6 pole motor
directly coupled to the turbine itself - let's hope they've got the axial
and radial load calculations correct.....


The B&Q units will be on-line between approx 4.5 to 14 M/S (9 to 31 mph)
so they seem to have a reasonable operating range.

I wonder what the output is at lower wind speeds?

I feel a bit of number crunching with excel coming on!