PV Gap

Margie Said:

solar/wind power question?

We Answered:

It is not that easy to answer your question because it is a function of size and type of wind turbine or solar panel. An average Home Solar Panel is about 3 ft. X 4 ft. and will produce maybe 30-40 Watts when the sun is around peak position. Remember, this peak is only a few hours a day. Lets say each panel would produce 50 Watts for 5 hours a day and less for another 5 hours, and the average is 30 watts/hr over the 10 hours it can produce any power. I would need 1000/30, or about 34 panels to average 1 KW that period. Of course, I still have 14 hours with no power.

Wind Turbines can be just about any size up to 1.5-2.5 Million Watts for most of the large ones used by electric companies. I've heard of a few larger, but not many. Most good wind turbines only require 6-10 MPH of wind to produce at peak power. They just need to spin at a certain speed, and the blades rotate to catch more or less wind as the wind speed changes. This is primarily to protect the equipment from overspeeding and damaging the reduction gear and motor. Her again, they produce nothing when the wind dies down.

Both Solar and Wind require a lot of area to produce much power. The wind turbines a large with over 40ft. blades and are on an enormous stand that is about 100 ft high. The turbines must be spaced pretty far apart.