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Wind Turbine FAQs
1. How much will a Skystream wind turbine generate? Depending on your location between 2,000 and 4,000 units of electricity per year (the average UK household uses 3,700 units per year)
2. What does a Skystream wind turbine cost to install? The total cost of installation is about £10,000 plus groundworks, so a typical installation works out at a total cost of between £12,000 and £13,000.
3. Is the Skystream wind turbine fully MCS certified for the Feed-in Tariff?
Yes. The Skystream is fully MCS certified so if you install a Skystream wind turbine you will be able to claim the feed-in tariff.
4. Can I sell to the grid?
Yes you can, easily. In fact, its better than that - you get paid for everything that you generate even if you use it. I know it doesn't sound right, but it is. You will get paid 28p for every unit you generate (income tax free), you obviously save having to buy electricity when your turbine is generating and you get paid for any surplus you export to the grid. See the section on selling your electricity for more information.
5. What’s the payback? At today’s prices the return on investment is between about 6% and 17%; better than the banks are offering! Another way of looking at it is that a Skystream will pay for itself in six to ten years depending on your location and tax bracket. The higher the tax bracket the faster the payback, and obviously the windier the site the faster the payback.
6. Is the feed-in tariff likely to change? The Feed-in taiff scheme is due to last for twenty years. As electricity prices are more likely to rise in the future your payback times and rate of return is likely to get better still.
7. Can I do / organise the groundworks myself? If you know of a good local groundswork company or contractor it may be possible to arrange for them to do the groundworks for your Skystream turbine. Discuss this with your Skystream installer when they come to do a survey of your property.
8. How does it work? When your turbine is generating you automatically use that electricity in preference to buying it from the grid thereby saving you money. When you’re generating more than you’re using it is automatically sold to the grid. For more information see the section How Skystream Works.
9. Do I need planning permission?
Yes, you do. We will prepare and submit your pllanning application for you – before 30th October 2011 we're offering this service free of charge (it usually costs £250).
10. How noisy is it? Not very. All turbines make a sound, usually in proportion to the wind and background noise. Most owners say they don’t notice it after a few weeks.
11. What about neighbours? Ideally the turbine should be at least 50m from your house and your nearest neighbours.
12. What about birds and bats? Birds and bats tend to steer clear of small wind turbines.
13. Is there any maintenance? The Skystream is designed for minimum maintenance. Unlike other turbines it’s bearings do not need to be greased every year. A yearly or bi-yearly check over is recommended.
14. What’s the next step? Please contact us to arrange a free desktop assessment to see if you’re in a good location for a wind turbine. If that looks positive we can organise a survey of your property through one of our network of local installers who will give you advise and quote for the supply and installation of your Skystream.
15. What if my property is off grid?
If your house is already connected to the mains (the grid) then we recommend that you connect your wind turbine directly to the grid. This is done through your domestic consumer unit (fusebox) and there is no need for any upgrade any of the existing wiring between your house and the grid. However, if your house is not already on the grid then in some cases it may make sense to remain ‘off-grid’. Electricity companies often quote £40,000 or more to connect a property to the grid. Where this the case, or where you are using a diesel generator and have high electricity consumption, using a combination of a wind turbine and solar panels to charge batteries, which then supply your electricity makes good economic sense, because you won’t be receiving electricity bills on top of the expensive of connecting to the mains.
When considering an off grid system it is important to minimise your likely energy requirement so that it will make it easier and cheaper to meet that demand. You will need to consider all your lighting requirements, electrical requirements including things like fridges, freezers etc. Each one of these will have a power rating (i.e. a 9W bulb), and will run for a certain amount of hours per day. You can work out how much energy you’ll need per day by multiplying the power rating of each device by the number of hours it will be used per day (on average). The sum of these will give you an indication of how many kilowatt hours of energy per day you use. We can then use this estimate to design a renewable energy system that will use a wind turbine and solar panels to charge batteries that will supply your required electricity.
16. Is there a wind speed calculator I can use?
Yes. To give you some indication of expected wind speeds in your location you can enter your postcode into our wind speed calculator.
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