How does a windmill work? For example, how does a homeowner get electricity from the windmill to the home?

Question

Are wires connected from the windmill to the home?

Answer 1

Wires are usually connected to a battery pack that is connected to the home. That way if the wind is blowing at night when you are not using electricity, you will have it in the morning. This is especially true of solar panels. They sometimes add a generator here. In many states, people sell their excess energy back to the utility company. The meter on your house actually spins backwards.

Answer 2

The windmill is a generator. Usually a DC (direct current) motor. As the blades on the windmill spin, they spin the electric motor (used as a generator).
It's the reverse of how an electric motor works. You put electricity into a motor and it spins, however, if you spin an electric motor, electricity is produced.
The electricity from a wind turbine is variable because wind speeds may go up and down or stop completely. Therefore, the generator is used to charge banks of batteries. The batteries are then connected to an electrical inverter that converts 12 volts DC into 110-120 volts AC, which is the current used in North American households.

Answer 3

Indirectly... the large windmill farms produce electricity that's feed back into the grid system, see link below.

For the homeowner, you can probably get a windmill that's geared down and connected to a turbine which can feed to your house.