Wind Electric
NY has a good wind resource, although it is more site specific than our solar resource. The first step in determining whether a wind system may be suitable for your home is to look up your wind resource at New York's Wind Mapping site.
For wind systems to make good investment, we typically recommend that clients have a wind resource of at least 11 - 12 mi/hr. Wind systems can be built through or independent from the NYSERDA Wind Incentive Program. In order to qualify for the program, you have to have at least 10.0 mph wind resource at the height of the system (which is typically 60-140 ft), and all wind systems must be installed on a minimum of one acre of land.
At Halco, every renewable energy system we do is monitored and production is guaranteed.
The primary components for a grid-connected wind system is the wind turbine itself, a self-supported lattice or monopole tower, the tower foundation, the load controller, and inverter(s). In our experience, we have worked primarily with 1kW-50 kW horizontal axis turbines (HAT). These turbines have been engineered for a significant period of time and their performance monitored and documented across the U.S. Manufacturers that we typically work with include Xzeres Wind.
Besides HATs, the other main type of turbine that there has been a lot of attention given to recently are the vertical axis turbines (VAT). These turbines are appealing to the residential market because they claim to be able to use wind when there is turbulence and thus be mounted much closer to the ground reducing costs. These turbines come in several types, two of which are the Savonius (half-barrel) and Darrieus (eggbeater) designs. Presently, there are many new manufacturers of these turbines, but there is very little in the way of documented production data. As such, while we think and hope VATs will be able to contibute to residential renewable electricity production in the future, but we are not currently recommending their use to clients. For more information, please see a recent article summarizing these concerns.