A larger retprofit wind turbine pays dividends

As featured in Homebuilding & Renovating, June 2010 issue.

David Kindred installed a wind turbine in 2008.

“Our property is surrounded by open farmland near the coast, making it ideally suited to wind power. Identifying the right wind turbine was simple. We were able to find a local operator, and soon after speaking to them we purchased a ‘Proven’ 6kW turbine. The price included installation and came in at £21,130, minus a £2,500 grant.”

“The majority of the time it produces between 1 and 3 kW. It provides enough power to run general appliances but the output is exceeded when you use a high energy appliance such as an oven. In these situations, and because the wind supply is far from constant, we remain connected to the grid.

 

“Once the wind turbine was in place, Opus Energy installed additional meters to measure the energy it generated versus the overflow energy we use from the Grid. From that point on everything was automated. Readings are sent by us in a monthly e-mail which shows how much energy is imported and exported. Our account is then credited or debited accordingly.

 

“In our first six months we were able to sell over £400 of excess electricity back. We also received over £250 for the ROCs (Renewables Obligation Certificate) generated by the turbine. As we only used about £600 of energy from the Grid in that time, so in effect we have free electricity and a small cash bonus of £50 left over.

 

“The winter months were relatively still this year, but we still generated over 9.75 MWh in the first 12 months. In a normal year we would generate between 10 and 11MWh so we actually expect to sell much more energy back to the Grid going forward, increasing our cash bonus at the end of the year.”