We're coming to the end of our house rebuild and may have some money available for a wind turbine (insulation, draft proofing etc already done). We have planning permission for a Proven 6kW on a 15m mast, which seem to have been replaced by the Kingspan KW6 following the takeover from what I can find via Google. Presumably I'd need to vary the planning permission for this or another turbine make, is this right

The windspeed is 5.6m/s at 10m for our grid ref, although may be higher as we're positioned towards the top of the hill, close to a small commercial windfarm (possibly soon to be a huge one if they get planning permission).

I'd be grateful for any thoughts/experience on whether the KW6 is any good (looks very similar to the previous Proven one) or alternative recommendations, ideally MCS approved. Given the proposed cut in FITs I guess we need to make a decision quickly.

Posted By: SteamyTeaThe Proven 6kw was/is a reliable little runner...

Do you mean the small one, 2.5 or 3.2 or whatever it was called?

Posted By: SteamyTeaThe Proven 6kw was/is a reliable little runner, just did not scale up well to 5kW.

Ah, I get it. ST means "did not scale up well to 15 kW".

Posted By: Ed DaviesAh, I get it. ST means "did not scale up well to15 kW".

Yes, sorry, the number 1 key on my keypad is a bit dodgy. Not sure what has fallen down there over the years, seems to happen to all my keyboards.

Thanks, I thought the KW6 looked rather familiar! Is the Evance 5kW any good then?

Our wind speed is map based rather than measured. I suspect (hope) it will be more than this given that this is based on a 1 square mile area and we're probably in the best position within that square mile, but accept estimated and measure are often significantly different. I had hoped we'd have time to measure it first, but other things (the house rebuild) got in the way.

I hate feeling under pressure to jump on the microgeneration wagon quickly before they cut the FIT and am torn between waiting and measuring the wind speed to confirm it's actually worth it, accepting the lower tariff or risking it and just going for it. I also feel a little uneasy about the whole FIT set up with people like me with disposable income benefiting above many others arguably more deserving (including the growing number in fuel poverty), but then the system is there to be used, so... Maybe there are better things I can do with the money??

Many thanks,
Katy

But what is the right thing? That's the tricky bit!

(already done the insulation, draft proofing and conservation stuff as part of the house rebuild)

-Katy

Reduction every time.

Posted By: windy lambDuring my research I was repeatedly advised that the smaller the turbine the higher the wind speed needed to be for it to be economic

This tends to be true for a few reasons in my opinion.
Large manufacturers are dealing with large companies with very tight contractual obligations, if they dish out bull the penalties will be pretty serious.
They also have the technical ability to design a better turbine and may have option to change blades for different wind regimes, in effect putting a turbine that is best matched to the location.
Small manufacturer can't afford to do this.
Then there is the on site survey, they do not rely on on a crude database of windspeeds but probably monitor for a few years, with better equipment.
Finally the physics comes into play, large turbines are higher up in higher mean speeds with less turbulence.
And the big one is that doubling the diameter quadruples the swept area.
All in all, turbines should be as large and as high as possible, would need less of them as well. I don't know why we much about will little 2MW ones when we could be putting in 5MW ones.

This report is a must-read as well http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Publications2/Generate-your-own-energy/Location-location-location-domestic-small-scale-wind-field-trial-report

One line of text posted by JSHarris has been removed by the moderator as it was unnecessarily blunt.

A simple "please stop posting advertising" would have been more appropriate.

One paragraph of has been text removed by the moderator as it was offensive.

A simple "please stop posting advertising" would have been more appropriate.

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: nigel</cite>I am not sure which is worse the spamming or the offensive language by people who don't like it.

If it carries on I will be off this forum too.</blockquote>

One paragraph of text posted by JSHarris has been removed by the moderator as it was unnecessarily blunt.

A simple "please stop posting advertising" would have been more appropriate.

Personally I'm not convinced that spamming a forum that requires membership is ever accidental, it seems to be a common ploy used by the ruthless to get their website up the search engine rankings. Like you, I've seen one or two previously great forums get badly disrupted by becoming havens for spammers - ebuild being a good example, it's never recovered from being reorganised and then spammed to death.

I agree that if Alex wants to start again, without all the advertising, then that seems a sensible thing to do.

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: ted</cite>Austen's 'Sense and Sensibility' was originally titled "Elinor and Marianne" after the two sisters who are the main protagonists. It refers to the somewhat opposite personalities of each of them.

Opposite personalities being somewhat in evidence here at the moment.</blockquote>

You're right, it all comes down to how we individually view this forum.

I think of it as being a bit like a pub, where pretty much anything can be discussed in a fairly open and friendly way between friends, or at least acquaintances that share a common interest. It's probably because of this that I view people who barge in here with advertising for their business as their first posts in the way I would if a pushy salesman walked in to a pub, interrupted a pleasant conversation, and started trying to sell the customers stuff.