How much, an average if possible, does it cost to install a windmill?

Question

We would like to harvest wind. Last i checked, there is no wind map of Louisiana, how do i find out if i can have a wind mill? How much power do they produce? Is this something we can do ourselves? Any info would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Answer 1

I've looked into this for a long time now. It depends on your KW hour needs. If you need 1000+ KWh (check your electric bill) you'll be paying a lot of money. $4000 - $8000.

Remember the tower usually costs as much as the windmill if not more.

If you are not on the coast, forget it in Louisiana. It's almost not worth it here in Dallas.

If it's power you want to save (And I have a $66 electric bill with 4 kids and a 3500 square foot all electric home) there are numerous things you can do.

1. Get a water on demand system as an electric water heater can cost you upwards of $60 a month alone.

2. Get a high speed spin washing machine so that you can line dry clothes (yea I know it sucks) but since they are spun at 1300 RPM, the clothes are very soft because they don't have excess water build up.

3. Buy a solar oven off ebay to avoid a conventional stove. Most sunny days it works like a regular oven. Mine works gerat.

4. Get good attic ventilation. Soffit vents are important.

5. Get all energy star appliances.

6. Change all your regular light bulbs to CFL's. (The corkscrews)


Sorry to go off topic a bit, but most people want windmills to save on $ + green power.

I've done all of the above plus more to get my bill this low.

So now I face "Do I pay $4000-8000 or simply just keep paying $66 bucks".

If you want more info [e-mail]

I've researched green power like crazy.

Answer 2

A windmill is of little use under 40-50 feet in height. Cost would be about $25.000 which would include installation and conversion for use in house heating. It would take about 6-8 years to recover the cost of a windmill for home use.

No cost of maintenance or insurance against disaster or damage is available at this time.

Answer 3

Total cost to be fully operational is about $2000-$3000 depending on how much of the work you are able to do yourself. You can't get into the setup for any less than that unless you install used equipment or junk. It is not cheap to get this deal going but the payback is a virtual certainty. I have priced and plan to install a wind powered generator in my backyard. You must first find out if the zoning ordinances where you live will even allow you to install such a device since the tower for the device is 30 feet tall. www.northerntools.com is a good place to look. They have a 300 watt unit that is only 48" in diameter and is designed for a residential application. The tower is purchased seperately as well as the controls. You can hook it up and it runs 24 hours a day. If there is ever a time when you are using less energy than you are producing your meter actually runs in reverse. We all know what that means. Northern tools also has a good line of solar panels.

Answer 4

The viability of wind as a energy source is problematic unless you have land to build a tower with no impediments to collecting the wind, and the bucks for storage.

In order to power a normal 1500-2500 SF house you would need about 1-2KwH available on average. Anything less then that and you would have to retrofit your entire house to run on DC current and live in the dark with no refrigeration or hot water.


Mind you, if you are in a rural area, and are building a new home it might be worthy of building into the construction costs a larger "windmill" but to do so, you would also have to have a viable way to store and attach to the grid when you are not producing.

Answer 5

I am a Health Safety and Environmental Engineer for Siemens Wind Power (US). We install wind turbines all over the US. The cost of a wind turbine is around $1 M per MegaWatt. The turbines we install are 2.3 mW and while running can provice clean renewable energy to almost 3000 average size homes.

The smaller "personal use" turbines are obviouslly much less expensive but you will still need another form of energy due to the fact that the wind does not blow constantlly and there is no technoligy out there that will allow us to store the energy from a wind turbine and use it later. If you dont use it you loose it.

It takes approz 750 Watts to run an average home for 1 hour.

Contact Green Mountain Energy.........I know they are in the Houston area and may be in your area as well. They provide full service power and all sources used are "Green" (Wind/Water). If they are in your area your electric bill will be cut by over 50%.

I hope this helps.

Answer 6

They have a 300 watt unit that is only 48" in diameter and is designed for a residential application. The tower is purchased seperately as well as the controls. You can hook it up and it runs 24 hours a day. If there is ever a time when you are using less energy than you are producing your meter actually runs in reverse. We all know what that means. Northern tools also has a good line of solar panels.

Answer 7

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How much, an average if possible, does it cost to install a windmill?
We would like to harvest wind. Last i checked, there is no wind map of Louisiana, how do i find out if i can have a wind mill? How much power do they produce? Is this something we can do ourselves? Any info would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Answer 8

To be effective, winds must blow at over 10mph most of the time in the area to be considered. Sadly, 97% of Louisiana averages less than that, unless you're on the Gulf itself, where the wind average hikes to 10-12mph. Sorry. However, how about solar panels? God knows you've got sun in that neck of the woods, they're cheaper (per Kw/Hr) easier to install (you need a roof) and don't need oiling. If you've ever lived in Kansas or Nebraska you know the sound of a rusty water-pumping windmill!

Answer 9

Great question. Finding wind maps is easy. Just Google it. This should get you started, like heroine the first hit is free: http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/windpoweringamerica/wind_maps.asp

You need to have an average wind speed of about 25mph. Cost can be as little as a few hundred dollars and can go up to the millions. Some people go out and find old windmills from places like Texas. I think the were called Wind Challengers (brand name), very cheap and efficient. They were made in the '20s and built to last. Look into sail boat units, very small and efficient with high outputs. I always thought it would be fun to start in one room or a workshop and build an experimental system. You can get power regulators for small cabins, and use them in a room, like a study and experiment with them. It is fun to research and think about it. I live in an apartment so it is not very practical but I do buy energy efficient bulbs. Good luck and have fun with it.

Answer 10

There is a great article in a Time Magazine from 2006 about the best inventions of that year. One of them is a windmill that can be installed to help power any run of the mill neighborhood cookie cutter house. It is about 30 feet tall and can help cut costs of electricity between 600-800 dollars. The initial cost $10,000 including installation, but it has a standard hookup so it can be plugged into the grid relatively easy. I hope this helps. Let's get America green.

Answer 11

do a google search of windmill and kansas ther is a cool company there. I am thinking about bringing several fo their products to Peru.

Wind map would be nice, however there are several other reliable indicators -- topography, talking to locals, and LOOK AT THE THREES you can see the prevailing winds and if the wind id constant, the trees will tell you by how they grow.

$35,000 delivered to your site -- could cost another 10,000 to field an experienced crew who can put it together. OR you ask the Kansas company if you can volunteer on a crew with another customer, you get the experience from the experienced crew that THAT GUY hires and then you go for it.

Depends on what you have more of -- time or money. There are alwasy 2 ways to acquire experience. Buy it with money or learn it by investing time.

good luck. let me know if you want to come to peru to help crew my assembly projects there in 2008