Quote:
Originally Posted by Acuario
Where I live it's regularly very windy, I'm not that far from the windiest place in Spain - if only I had known as I hate the wind.
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I have seen more small cheap wind turbines with blades, tail fins, nosecones missing than I can remember. Nearly everyone here that has invested in one regrets it. A couple of years ago one was installed close to me that must have cost 5000+ euros. First winds it lost 2 blades. They did repair it but now it looks like it spends more time in braking mode than in generating mode.
The problem is the turbulent air and almost continually changing directions and gusts. It destroys conventional turbines.
The only ones that seem to survive are the vertical turbines - I have yet to see a broken one. they seem ideally suited to the 'type' of wind we have here.
Personally I always advise clients to buy a couple of extra pv panels as we tend not to suffer from a deficit of sun and here when it's windy in the day 9 times out of 10 it is also sunny.
Acuario
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Acuario,
You make a good point about VAWTs (vertical turbines). The horizontal guys love to turn their noses up at VAWTs but they have some very strong points.
No yoke bearings, no furling, much sturdier, better for birds, etc. Yes, they put out less power but sometimes less power is better than a mill with broken blades!
Living in very windy places is tough, once and awhile the wind gets to be steady around here and it puts people on edge, I can't imagine what living in Northern Scotland is like!
Rob