How To Hook Up A Wind Turbine For Your Home

If you live in an area where you have plenty of room, you can choose to install your own wind turbine to provide your home the benefits of wind energy. This is a clean resource that will allow you to give you an alternative to having to buy power from an electric company. Wind is kinetic energy and and can be turned into electricity when the wind turns the blades of the turbine. If you install a system that is actually tied in with your local electrical grid which is run by your local power company, any electricity that is produced beyond what your home uses, you will then receive revenue in the way of rebates.

Before you do anything you will need to get a hold of your power company and let them know about your plans for installing your wind turbine. They will then let you know right then and there if the excess power you might generate can be sold to them for rebate money. Some only offer credits and not monetary returns so make sure you know which they offer before you offer them your excess energy.

Once you have your unit you will need to hook up the unit to a charge controller after the turbine is installed. You do this by using power cables. This controller is what will direct the energy to your home or it will dump it off into what is called a load device when there is excess energy produced. Then this excess energy can be used if the turbine is not producing sufficient energy from time to time. It’s a very good idea to make sure that you include batteries with your unit so you can store energy when there are times when it is not producing as much as you might need. These batteries will also need to be hooked up to your charge controller.

You will need to make sure that the charge controller is hooked up to your dump load device. Something like a specially designed water heater or air heater is good for absorbing any extra electricity that might be produced. This load device will also keep your system from overloading itself and causing a house fire.

You will also need to connect your charge controller to what is known as the grid tie inverter through some power cables as well. This inverter is what will convert the DC electricity into what you need, the AC electricity that will then power all of the things you need power for in your home, like your appliances. There are a lot of power companies that will be more than willing to help you calibrate the unit properly so don’t be afraid to ask them, especially if you are going to sell them your extra wind energy.

The next thing that needs to be connected is the grid tie inverter. It needs to be connected to your main breaker box in your home. This will allow your home to be able to use all of the energy that your wind turbine will provide for you.

The last thing you will need to do is to make sure that your breaker panel or box is connected to a two way power meter. This meter will let your system send electricity to the power company’s electrical grid if you are selling them your extra power. It will also record the amount of energy that you send to the power company.