Wind Turbine Power Generation

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT): 

PLEASE NOTE: We ONLY offer Vertical Axis Wind Turbines, as VAWT's are 30% more efficient than HAWT wind turbines.

VAWT's are Superior Wind Turbine technology as the Bearings & Rotation are ONLY on One Axis, as well as VAWT's are omni-directional, meaning they will generate Power with the Wind blowing from Any direction!

VAWT's output Voltage range from 12V ~ 480V Three-phase AC, the Turbines use permanent magnet disc core, direct drive generator, VAWT have a better visual appeal with low operating noise.

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT):

We do NOT offer Horizontal Wind Turbine due to there inherent problems of two different Axis of Rotation causing premature failure of the Bearings, e.g. The Horizontal Rotation of the Blades are constantly Fighting against the Vertical Axis Rotation of the Mast Bearing, those multi directional forces is what causes nearly every HAWT Bearings premature failure.

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Harnessing the Wind to Generate Power is one of the cheapest alternative power sources after Solar & Aqua generation, the designs in Wind generation vary greatly from home made Wind Turbines manufactured from salvaged permanent magnet motors, like the direct drive Fisher & Paykel washing motors (shown below), to the cheap Chinese made are readily available on eBay, priced form a few hundred dollars.

In general Wind turbine with 3 blades are better suited for high wind areas, where 5 up to 11 blade hubs are better for locations with less wind, as the more blades the more force is acting on turning the turbine and the additional weight of the propellers in turn acts like a flywheel, and keeps the turbine turning for a while longer until the winds picks up again.

Wind turbines utilise the natural resources at your location, so purchase equipment that suits your budget.  Wind turbines should be mounted clear of buildings and obstacles, as Voritces (Rota) wash from buildings & trees disrupts the laminate air, and that can greatly reduce the efficiency of the turbine and reduce the power produced on a day to day basis.

On a horizontal mounted wind turbine with vertical propeller type blades, do NOT use equal blade numbers, as when the bottom blade passes the vertical mounting pole, the air turbulence causes a vibration that will be transferred to any blade mounted directly above/opposite, and will eventually cause a catastrophic failure to the blade, and possibly the unit.

IMPORTANT: If your premises or battery bank is a fair distance away from the windmill, it is FAR better NOT to convert the AC power coming out of your generator into DC, until it has reached the Batteries, AC power will travel a lot further without any significant power losses, so you should only convert AC into DC power once it is close to your batteries.  Low voltage AC power should ONLY use multi-strand copper household wiring (NEVER use single strand wire as the amps travel on the outside of wire strands, thus a single core wire will Choke the transmission of power causing undesirable/greater losses), to export the power long distances with little power losses, only then should you convert AC to DC power for your batteries.  If you use DC rectifier at the turbine you should be as close as possible or you will have to use very expensive and heavy duty multi strand wiring, or you will loose a lot of power in only a short distance!

The next important step is to connect the AC power from the wind generator into a Rectifier (located as close as possibly to the batteries') that in turn is then connected directly to the Battery bank, then a Charge controller needs to be connected to the batteries, and then a Dump loader relay need to be fitter to the charge controller, then when the batteries are fully charged the disconnect relay switches the Wind turbine over to the Dump load, this is so the turbine will not be disconnected and free-wheel causing the turbine to possibly run-away in high wind, causing it to self destruct.  Now all you need to be is take the power from the battery bank directly into an inverter & start using your power.

As Wind is unreliable in most locations, there is no guaranteed there will be enough wind to generate your daily power needs, although in the right location you may have more wind than sun to tap into over a 24 hour period, that is the main reason the South Australian Grid recently blacked out, Wind is largely unreliable.

We say it time & time again, the bottom line is, "true power independence long term largely relies on using Battery storage", a multi-input Hybrid inverters makes it very simple to automatically store or use all types power generated for later harvesting or sale as you see fit.

The recommended obstacles clearance below Wind Turbine will provide the most power production, although the turbine will operate comfortably mounted atop your rooftop or on a short Rafter mounted mast, Peak Power largely depends on uninterrupted air clearance of obstacles, predominately up-wind of your wind turbine.