Storing windmill energy

Its all site specific. In Pa, several of the 5 Mw turbines pump water up a hill into a storage pond for later conversion to power.
I dont think compressed air stations are very cheap compared to batteries (maybe for a community sized power station). A home owners 10Kw relies on batteries and inverters.

Heating systems based on heat pumps (geo or otherwise) are not really comfort based, youre always cold so using a gas system is still the most efficient and cheapest.

In the NE, many of these tiurbines are constantly getting whacked by lightning storms and they have to be shut down for weeks while the props are reset or repaired and rebalanced.

"begs the q" how many suitable sites have a hill nearby

I've oft wondered, Man, whether our big solar ("8,000 kw"??) might benefit from batts, whether it'd be worth it. Tempting, we could be totally independent

Oft wondered whether wind farms are really that much better in the long run than solar

I'm going to have to add batteries to my grid tied system now that the electric co-op that serves my home is not required to implement net metering. Instead, They 'buy' your solar power from you at 4 cents /KWH and sell it back to you for 11.5 cents. So effectively they are selling me my own solar power at 7.5 cents / KWH. How's THAT for encouraging alternative energy...

Doesnt "beg" anything. All storage and dist is site specific. Compqre all these "off the grid" systems with nat gas or propane. Nat gas is gonna be cheap for at lest 10 years and most electricity around me can be bought for 7-7.5 cents per kilowatt , so theres no real reason to even consider this. I have a small "Amish system" (No requirements to hookup to the grid under a certain Kw production)
I use 3 square for pumping well- water and charging tractors and implements and LED for a distant 38X 64 building.

We considered solar and rejected it for now. If power isnt available we have a Generac 9.5 Kw and a 3Kw that operate on Propane. We have a buried 1000 gal farm tank and a 1500 gal house tank for heat , barn, AC and generator.

Weve been paying about 1.50 a gal for propane for the last 3 years. (Course I had some inside help ).

Lotta maintenance required in keeping the nacelle lubed an the unit free from damage by stuff like lightning. We were at the 5Mw unit in Lewes Del when it got hit by lightning an its was off for 3 weeks, The unit runs the entire University of Delawares Marine and Earth SCience labs as well as 1/3 of Lewes.

SO, their backup contract has them buying DELMARVA power for a fairly high rate.


So you have an 8 megawatt solar unit? does that serve your town?

Solar units are coming down in price but wind and hydropower is remaining flat. ACtually, the biggest decline in energy cost is seen in GAS . This stuff has declined a lot in the last 5 years.

Yeah I know, Foot. They really screwe us. Do make a thread after some experience with batts

Man you'e got it made

However I wonder if your gen/home is in a corner of your prop like ours, where new neighbor can do the same thing, his corner adj yours Then you'd hafta build a fence and muffle your gen

Yea Man, that's exactly as it was entered in our contract, hence the " " " " 's

generators (especially those on nat gas or propane) are very quiet. Remember, I have a farm and my nearest neighbors aRE A GOOD 3/8 mile away from my property line.

How lucky you are. In spite of 2.5-acre lot my predecessor built our home in one corner of the prop, alongside a road

Nonetheless given a choice, Man, I lean away from anything with moving parts. Hence my open letter to the tech sec urging concentration on the batt