How many homes can the large 3-blade wind turbines power?

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1. David D December 15, 2010 at 4:09 pm

   

   Power reliably – None. The wind doesn’t blow all of the time.

   A big wind turbine will produce 1 megawatt. That would power 100 homes.

2. georock1959 December 15, 2010 at 4:35 pm

   

   It depends on your definition of “large.”

   The largest of the wind turbines have a capacity of around 5 MW in ideal conditions. The average home consumes about 1000 watts of power (averaged over a 24 hour period), so one of these monsters could, in theory, power 5000 homes.

   As David has correctly pointed out, the problem is that wind does not always blow at the optimal speed, and residential power consumption is not linear. Peak demand (between 7 am and 9 am, and again at 5 pm to 9 pm) rarely coincides with maximum generating capacity. The next problem is that surplus capacity is almost impossible to store.

   David – even at 1 MW, that’s enough to power 1000 homes not 100.

3. blawgg@ymail.com December 15, 2010 at 5:18 pm

   

   I also lived by a wind farm not too far away. These are huge and have a walk up ladder on the inside. They will power upwards of 100 homes a piece I believe. You can get much smaller wind turbines for residential use though. Below is an article that I found that you might find interesting.