#Home wind turbine vs solar panels how to#

If you aren’t home, any excess electricity you produce and don’t use is put into the grid and distributed elsewhere. It generates electricity when the wind’s blowing, which you can then use in your house.

For the latter situation, your wind turbine works just like a solar installation. Wind turbines can be used both off-grid with batteries or on-grid in conjunction with utility electricity. When it’s cloudy and stormy, your turbine is pumping out electricity. Wind turbines can be combined with solar installations, complementing each other: when the weather is clear and the sun is shining, your solar panels are hard at work. The size of your wind turbine depends on your energy use and the available wind in your area.

5kW: The most common size for residential applications, about 18 feet in diameter.

2kW: About 12 feet in diameter – too small to cover a typical home’s energy use, though it could pair well with a solar installation.

400 watts: Very small turbines useful for small off-grid applications or pairing with a solar installation.

As you can imagine, wind turbines for residential homes are much smaller, ranging from about 400 watts to 10kW: Those large scale wind turbines you see on the side of the road typically produce about 1.5 to 3 megawatts of power (enough electricity to power hundreds of homes). Basics of selecting the best home wind turbine To alleviate this issue, we’ve made a short list of the best home wind turbines, considering factors like home wind turbine cost, value, and manufacturer reputation.īut before we get to our list of the best wind turbines, let’s quickly go over the basics of home wind turbines.

This makes it more difficult to evaluate a product.

We’re not talking about those big companies like Siemens, MingYang, and GE who make utility-scale equipment, but smaller companies you might not be familiar with. If you’re interested in installing a home wind turbine, many manufacturers are currently making small residential turbines. Compare that to our capacity in 2000 of just 2,539 MW and you begin to comprehend how much the industry has grown! Wind energy has seen a huge popularity increase over the last 10 years, mostly pushed forward by utility-scale wind farms–the rows of giant white wind turbines you’ve seen driving through the desert or plains.Ĭase in point: in 2016, our total wind capacity in the US equaled 82,000 megawatts. Just like with solar, which ranges from huge solar farms to small-scale residential solar panel kits, you now also have the option of installing the best home wind turbine for your particular situation.

#Home wind turbine vs solar panels how to#

How to Choose the Best Home Wind Turbine 6 suggestions to help you select the best home wind turbine