Farms powered by wind turbines

dannycorona

Hi,

I'm goin through my fathers bills etc at the minute, tryin to save him a few pound if I can. Tough enough job!

Lookin at the bord gais electricity im shocked at the amount he pays annually on energy bills. approx 500-600 every senond month between house and farm.

Am thinkin that at that rate if we install a wind turbine here say 20-25000 could have it payed off in less than 10 years, and given that these have a shelf life of 30 years there could be a significant saving after its payed off.

I dont think theres government grants for these anymore, anyone on here have one installed or know of anyone who has gone down this route? Any input appreciated

bob charles

initial cost is only one factor, maintenance costs of a turbine can be a few grand a year. Maybe best to look at it from the other side and see where he can make energy savings. leccy is one bill I can do SFA. Proceed with extreme caution if you go down the turbine route, I see a good proportion of the ones around me stopped from day to day for some reason

Joey the lips

I have yet to see a wind turbine that is a domestic or farm success. If you want to save energy i would work on the obvious.

Lighting. Insulation etc. There is also farm heat sources can actually be generated now from burning various dungs.

Pacoa

Guy up the road from me put one in last year, around 35 to 40k for an 11Kwh one. Its had problems a few times since. Just recently it had sparks comeing out the back of it so I would be very cautious before investing in one.

Red Sheds

I have researched the small wind turbines in the last 18 months and economically they dont stack up with an adequate payback period right now. The capital cost is one thing, then you have to consider the maintenance and also they might not produce when you wnat them to so you you need the dual meter and feedback agreement with the ESB. I dont think any of them really give the output they are rated at as well.

Assuming you had to borrow 30k to install one over 5 years, the interest alone in year 1, would be nearly equal to what you pay annually at the moment for ESB.

Invest in energy reduction and savings, its the best investment for now, start with the simple thing, but it looks like you have done this,

1. Shop for the best electricty deal that suits your usage profile.
2. Look at discounts, now ESB give you 8% (I think) discount if you pay by direct debit and opt for online billing.
3. Look how you can reduce usage. You can download a really good i phone app from the ESB that allows you calculate usage and cost for each electrical item you have, it will show you the high users. When I did it a few simple changes saved me 12 - 15% of my ESB bill further without reducing usage of any appliance or equipment. Maybe the same calculator can be got on the ESB website if you dont have i phone.

Best of luck

blue5000

Hi OP have they got night rate in?

hamletsmoker

Installed a turbine a few years ago. Cost €25000+ a few more for extra wiring.Was quite excited about the project. Result= A total waste of space, time and money. Absolutely useless and no satisfaction from the supplier. Would pay a lot of ESB bills with that much money.

F.D

hamletsmoker wrote: »

Installed a turbine a few years ago. Cost €25000+ a few more for extra wiring.Was quite excited about the project. Result= A total waste of space, time and money. Absolutely useless and no satisfaction from the supplier. Would pay a lot of ESB bills with that much money.

does it even come near meeting your own energy needs, or were you hoping to sell electricity to pay for it, what size is it out of interest

hamletsmoker

F.D wrote: »

hamletsmoker wrote: »

Installed a turbine a few years ago. Cost €25000+ a few more for extra wiring.Was quite excited about the project. Result= A total waste of space, time and money. Absolutely useless and no satisfaction from the supplier. Would pay a lot of ESB bills with that much money.

does it even come near meeting your own energy needs, or were you hoping to sell electricity to pay for it, what size is it out of interest

It wouldn't even begin to come near a small fraction of my energy needs let alone a surplus. Has about 5000kwhs produced in nearly three years!! I was told it would produce about 12500kwhs/year on average. It's a 5 kw generator. Total heap of scrap!!

blue5000

hamletsmoker wrote: »

It wouldn't even begin to come near a small fraction of my energy needs let alone a surplus. Has about 5000kwhs produced in nearly three years!! I was told it would produce about 12500kwhs/year on average. It's a 5 kw generator. Total heap of scrap!!

Chinese by any chance?

BeeDI

blue5000 wrote: »

Chinese by any chance?

Irish by any chance

There's a thread or two on BFF, which wouldn't fill you with confidince in these things.

hamletsmoker

BeeDI wrote: »

blue5000 wrote: »

Chinese by any chance?

Irish by any chance

There's a thread or two on BFF, which wouldn't fill you with confidince in these things.

Yep. Chinese!