Supplement solar system with wind turbine

[GFruge]

So, I’ve had my system up and running for 9-10 months. I live on the side of a mountain and started researching hydro and wind turbines lately to supplement the system, especially at night. I reached out to the company that I purchased the system from and he doesn’t recommend supplementing. Sounded kinda fishy to me, so I’m posting here to get input.

My system includes:

1 - Growatt 6kw hybrid inverter (grid tied)
10 - 530 watt solar panels
2 - lithium batteries max 51.2v (6.4kWh) 3k cycles

I do have plans to purchase another battery and 2 more panels soon to max out the solar side.

Your opinions please.

My main concern is that living in the mountains, we have days with lots of rain and other days with lots of fog. If the sun is good and batteries charge to 99%, the batteries only drop to 40-45% at night before they start recharging. Though I have a creek on my property, I don’t have enough water flow to do hydro. So, I’m researching wind, because we usually have a constant breeze and it does gust up often.

If you do suggest wind turbines, what size and make? And what or how would you suggest to tie into my current system?

Thanks in advance

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Wind Resources

Rule 1: The power rating of a wind turbine has NOTHING to do with the amount of power you'll get. The amount of power you get depends on the size and efficiency of your wind turbine, and your wind. The power rating of a wind turbine is just its...

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[OzSolar]

You're off grid or grid tied?

If you're off grid how many hours a month are you running your generator now?

For hydro head (elevation drop) is far more important than flow so if you've got enough drop on your property it might work out. EG. a little bit of water with a lot of drop is far better than a lot of water with barely any drop. Anything less than 20' won't work.

98% of sites are not even remotely feasible for small wind. The biggest mistake most people make is assuming they are in that 2%.

Even if you're in that 2% there's no viable small wind on the market today so just give up on that right now. That's the voice of experience. There is not a single wind turbine on the market today that will produce within 10% of what the manufacturer claims it will.

edit to fix typo

 

[GFruge]

I’m grid tied. I was using anywhere between 300-320 kWh per month.

Truthfully, I like what’s available as far as the hydro equipment. That’s the first thing I researched before switching over to the wind idea. I have a creek with decent water, but the drop in that area that’s on my property is anywhere between 10-15 foot drop. With that, I decided to look in the other direction. I have another very small stream that has a total drop of approx 40’, maybe even a little more. I can go out and try collecting the water to see how much water comes out. Then there’s one more little stream of water that I know only flows at 2 gpm. I can get maybe a 10’ drop from that one.

I haven’t found anything that’s caught my attention yet in the wind market. That’s why I posted here.

I’m open to any suggestions to supplement my solar system.

 

[Rednecktek]

Hydro really IS the holy grail of renewable. Sure, your creek might only be able to produce enough oomph to generate 200w, but that's for 24 hours and adds up to 4800w, which is about the same as a 1200w solar array that you don't have to find space for!

There are tricks for hydro to get more pressure out of the water flow, like barrels that take a wide stream and pump it into smaller pipes to increase pressure and dams and such. No matter which way you go it's going to net you more benefit than wind.

I’m open to any suggestions to supplement my solar system.

So you start by building a giant hamster wheel...

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I’m open to any suggestions to supplement my solar system.

More solar is often the most cost effective way as more solar still performs better than less solar in poor solar conditions.

 

[GFruge]

I plan on adding 2 more 530 watt panels and 1 more lithium battery to max out the current system that I have. I have 1 possibly that I’ll check on over the next several days. There’s a lagoon that’s on a neighbor’s property that overflows and runs through my property. If I can somehow tap into that lagoon, it’ll be about 100’ of head. I measured the overflow that passes through my property and it’s roughly 50’ of head and 11gpm.

I’ll reach out to watter buddy and Langston to see if they have any solution.

 

[GFruge]

Forgot to add. The reason I’m searching another alternative, hydro or wind, to supplement the current system is because of where I live has a rainy season. During those months, it’s often very foggy and rains quite a bit. On those days, I usually have to switch back to the grid.

 

[Rednecktek]

Forgot to add. The reason I’m searching another alternative, hydro or wind, to supplement the current system is because of where I live has a rainy season. During those months, it’s often very foggy and rains quite a bit. On those days, I usually have to switch back to the grid.

I feel your pain. 4 months out of the year my 300w panel setup can't reliably gain 120Wh in a day.

50' of head at 11GPM will work nicely!

 

[GFruge]

Which system would you recommend? Proton, turgo, etc? Company? Watter buddy, Langston, power spout, etc?

I’ve seen the prices, but would like to try one of these systems regardless.

During the rainy season, there’s lots more than 11gpm. I’m sure I could turn on several more jets and max out whatever either that 50’ or 100’ of head would give.

 

[OzSolar]

Which system would you recommend? Proton, turgo, etc? Company? Watter buddy, Langston, power spout, etc?

I’ve seen the prices, but would like to try one of these systems regardless.

During the rainy season, there’s lots more than 11gpm. I’m sure I could turn on several more jets and max out whatever either that 50’ or 100’ of head would give.

You're ahead of me one what is out there today as I've yet to install one. I've been called to look at a half dozen sites over the years but none of those projects got off the ground for a variety of reasons. Even though my region is hilly we have few sites with enough drop suitable for micro-hydro. I'll be looking forward to updates on your project.

Check out Hugh Piggott's blog. He's got recent post on a hydro that may interest you.