Wind Generated Power - Is It Feasible In The Philippines?

[Beachboy]

What about the inverter? A cheap Chinese 1Kw (on Alibaba) still costs $100 US plus shipping. Forklift battery $1000 and up (so much lead in them not even Superman could see in side .. :bash: ) .. Just wondering what the cost of the unit would be? Assuming you used cheaper batteries .. could it be built for $500 US? Or cheaper? Any estimates?

[Curley]

You can use car batteries but they don't like being charged/discharged a lot and therefore don't last as long when being used for this purpose but if they are cheap enough? Scrapyards for second hand batteries?

[Jollygoodfellow]

What would be some of the road blocks besides the financial ones?

If too many people start using wind power the government will charge per cubic meter of wind. :)

[tiger31]

well before you all go rushing to the hardware store to build ya home made wind turbines .what is the main ingredient here ? yes its WIND well ive been here 18 months and the only wind you get around here is when a typhoon passes over ma head lol here in mactan there is hardly enough wind to blow a dandylion flower head off lol maybe up in the mountains its more windy but here in the flat lands forget it .solar power is the main thing to concintrate on as there is plenty of sunshine most of the year ,but its too costly for almost all philippino,s so they have to stick with hich electricity prices here .

[i am bob]

Mexico is dry and the Phils is wet and that's what bothers me about the home-made system.

whats the increased chance of lightning strikes if you use a steel tower? Thunder storms would be a risk if they are common place.

Lightening rods! Mount one above your unit, insulate well and drive that spike deep into the ground! And don't forget to use the big cable for this! I saw one once using a 20ga single strand.... You could say it would work as good as a fuse! :mocking:

[i am bob]

Tiger is correct! You have to do a study of the area you want to put this in - and look to see if it is feasible! And also allow for a back-up plan for when the winds just aren't there for a while! Wind power in decent areas is a great answer - especially when tied to a solar panel for back-up. Solar power with a cheap wind unit is also great! And if you're in a hilly area with water flowing at a good rate? Hydro!!!

Another thing to consider is also how far you have to transmit from your panel/turbine set-up. You are only creating a small amount of power in a wind gennie. If you are not reasonably close to your house, you won't have usable power at your house! DC power does not travel very far without losing it's value! I'm not going to put the math here but it is something to look at.

This is why, when Edison put the first electric street lights into Buffalo from the tons and tons of electricity he was creating in Niagara Falls (a few miles downriver), he was limited to only a few blocks of the downtown area. It just wouldn't travel well. It wasn't until Tesla kicked Edison's butt (they didn't like each other at all!) and started to generate AC power that everybody could look at enjoying electric lights not only outside but in their own homes too as well as powering those laptops and TV's to their heart's content!

It would really be nice if somebody could figure out how Tesla was able to pull electricity out of the air. That would be the ultimate "off the grid" power system! All his papers were destroyed (rumours were Edison took possession of them) and he left and went home to live in obscurity until his death.

[Curley]

It would really be nice if somebody could figure out how Tesla was able to pull electricity out of the air. That would be the ultimate "off the grid" power system! All his papers were destroyed (rumours were Edison took possession of them) and he left and went home to live in obscurity until his death.

Telsa produced "free" electricity by using the earth's natural magnetism

[nor cal mike]

Great topic ibemarshall and lots of good follow up. This is something that might work for me. I like

the idea of a bamboo tower and the use of vw and wooden parts. The cost of the forklift batteries

I use in my solar system was $1800.00 each. Costly, yes, but they have been in use for 6 years

now and show no signs of weakness. Included in the cost were steel boxes for each battery. They

certainly will not "grow legs" as I had to use the backhoe to put them in place. Also, I believe you are

limited to 12 volts with the deep cycle batteries. My system is 24 volt giving a much greater power source

and longer periods of use before recharging is necessary. This is where the use of a wind turbine could

play a very useful role charging the batteries over night and perhaps reducing the need for two batteries

in the forklift senario and cut down the need for so many deep cycle batteries in the 12 volt system.

Most people I know with the 12 volt system use multiple batteries wired in a series and they only last

a few years.

[i am bob]

Hmm... Maybe we should form our own company?

Would this fall under the rules for 100% foreign ownership when selling high-end items?

:mocking:

(Actually, this just might be one of those business that is excepted... hehe!)

[nor cal mike]

Hmm... Maybe we should form our own company?

Great idea Bob. Perhaps we could start by pooling our resourses and building a sales model at my place..... hehe!