What size wind generator do I need for 6000w an hour production?
I would like to be off gird and I need to figure what size generator I need to produce 6000w hour to support my home. I am confused about the generator sizes. If there is a 6kw generator, is that producing that a day, hour, month? All answers appreciated.
Best answer:
Answer by billrussell42
You are confused between power and energy. There is no such thing as "watts per hour" or kW per hour or day or month. Power (in watts) is a rate, the rate of using or generating energy, and 6000 watts is 6000 joules per second, where joules are the Si unit for energy.
What you need is your average power consumption. The average US home uses power at the rate of 1.2 kW. Your house may be higher at 6 kW (6000 watts).
That is an average, you need a more powerful generator to handle surges and peaks. I'd guess at 10 kW or even 15 kW, assuming the 6 kW number is accurate.
edit: a little more info. There are two different units of energy in use. The Joule, and the kW-hour.
1 kW-hour = 3,600,000 Joules.
your house uses energy (if the 6kW number is correct) at the rate of 6kJ per second OR at the rate of 6 kW-hour per hour.
I think it is the kW-hour that causes the most confusion.
note that 6 kW-hour per hour = 6 kW
edit2:
With a wind generator, you have to find out/guess on what percentage of the time it will be generating power, and arrange enough storage (expensive) to handle the times when there is no wind. Typical number for wind turbines is 20% usage factor. That means to generate 6 kW on the average, the wind turbine has to supply about 30 kW when on, so you will have 6 kW on the average. Probably closer to 50 kW and wind can vary a lot.
The problem is storage. A large marine lead acid battery at $ 300 can store about 1 kW-hour. If you need 6 kW for a long period with no wind, say 40 hours, that is 240 kW-hours, which is 40 batteries.
An alternative is grid storage. When the wind is blowing, use the 6 kW and sell the other 44 kW to the power company. When the wind is not blowing, buy power back from them.
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C-Luck:
If you have an average sized home1800 to 2000 sq ft, with no swimming pool — you are probably using an average of less than 600 kWh per month, or roughly about 7,000 kWh per year. You may want to check your electric utility bill to verify — the monthly kWh should be on there somewhere. If your home is larger, or you have a swimming pool pump, or added load — it may be larger than 600 kWh per month.
You will need additional info to size your wind turbine, but lets assume you are in a really good area for wind — maybe in Texas, Iowa, etc. The “Capacity Factor” for wind generation in the best “prime areas” is about 25 to 27%. That means the wind turbine will only generate full power an average of about 25% of the time. So for example, a 10 kW wind turbine would only generate an average of 2.5 kWh every hour.
So if you need around 600 kWh per month, then you need about 20 kWh per day — or roughly an average of about 1 kWh per hour. Therefore, if you are in the very best wind area of the country, with a 20% to 25% Capacity Factor, you will need a unit that would be capable of producing about 4 or 5 times the 1 kWh each hour. Meaning — you would need a 4 or 5 kW wind turbine — to produce 1 kWh each hour on average.
A 3 kW wind turbine costs about $ 20,000 to install — so a 5 kW wind turbine might be $ 30,000 installed. A this is the minimum to get you started. If you want to watch TV when the wind is not blowing — then you need battery back-up storage. This will cost you about $ 10,000 for batteries, that will last maybe 5 years before needing replacement. So now you are at about $ 40,000 in cost — not to mention the extra $ 10,000 every 5 years for more batteries. And this is only if you are in the best wind areas. If not — you need a larger wind turbine, which is much more expensive.
Even if you current electric bill is $ 100/ month — that is only $ 24,000 over 20 years (which is probably about the expected life of a wind turbine). So just staying with the electric company will cost you about 1/2 or less as opposed to buying a wind turbine.
BTW — Wind generation in general needs a fairly high average wind speed to be even close to cost-effective. I believe that the average wind speed that I have heard used is an average of about 14 mph. It takes a wind speed of about 7 or 8 mph just to turn the blades of the wind turbine. So in a slight 5 mph breeze, the blades won’t even turn. This limits the wind generation to certain areas of the country — mostly in Texas and the mid-west plains, and some on the west coast in Oregon, Washington, and is limited to about 3 specific areas of California.
Hope this helps.