One of the problems with solar energy is that the sun doesn’t shine at night. In Northern latitudes, the sun doesn’t shine much during the winter, either. But because the wind often blows when the sun isn’t shining a small wind turbine may provide a way to generate some power even when solar panel systems struggle.
Keep in mind that the amount of power actually generated by an installation will depend on the proposed location, time of year, and a number of other variables. That’s where the Sufficient.ai engine can help!
Let’s start by looking at the average monthly wind speed at a proposed location. In this case, we’ll look at Phoenix, AZ.
NOTE: Subscribers get a localized version of this data and analysis.
Each of the bars in the chart above represents the average wind speed (compiled over the past 20 years) for this location. The horizontal red line at 15 mph represents the typical “minimum viable” windspeed for a small turbine. This is because a wind turbine’s power output is proportional to the windspeed, and typically doesn’t produce its “rated power output” (say 400W) until the windspeed gets above 20 mph. See the graph below for a typical “power curve” for a small wind turbine.
Picasola 400W Turbine
As you can see in the chart, this particular turbine doesn’t reach its 400W rated output until the wind is blowing 30 mph. This is a pretty good breeze and explains why people are often disappointed in the power output of small wind turbines relative to solar panels.
So while it is highly unlikely that a turbine will continuously produce close to its rated output, it will at least generate some power in lighter breezes, so it’s worth doing the math to see what the probable energy output will be for this location over the course of the year.
Phoenix, AZ | Picasola 400W Turbine
While this chart looks a lot like the Wind Speed chart above, if you look closely, you’ll see that we’ve adjusted the values based on the power curve for the turbine, so the lower wind months generate correspondingly lower amounts of energy.
Total = 484 kWh
Which is actually enough total energy to keep a full-sized refrigerator running year-round!
Here is a wind turbine that might work in this location, based on available climate and energy usage data:
