We installed our new 24 volt system last year on April 4. I just tallied the power logs for the last year and we generated 10,499 kWh from 4-4-2011 to 4-1-2012. That averages out to 29.12 kWh/day.
Of those kWh total, 6,564 came from wind power, or an average of 18.21 kWh/day. Of the total, 3,935 kWh came from solar, or 10.91 kWh/day.
The wind generates a lot more kWh in the winter. The solar generates a lot more in the summer. In the last three weeks the solar has been burying the wind turbines for total power output**
Our generator hours from April to April were 356.9, on both of our standby generators combined. That's an improvement over the January to January number, which was 454.7 hours. We have a grand total of 49.4 hours on both generator combined since Jan 1. My goal for 2012 was to cut the gen hours to less than 250 for the year. I think we are well on track to do that. We will never eliminate the gen hours altogether because we depend on them to run heavy loads like the range, sometimes water heaters, and the electric clothes dryer.
We have made two major improvements since Jan 1 that has made a difference in gen hours - I added 500 watts more solar power a couple or three weeks back, plus a Classic 150 controller. And I upgraded two turbines to MPPT machines with Classic 150 controllers. Those improvements have all but eliminated the gen time for "poor power days", as the generators have not started because we're low on power since Feb 27. They have only run for exercise or when the inverter calls for gen power for Peak Load Management.
I look back at the year before and it's appalling. We generated a meager 1224 kWh from Jan 1 2011 to April 4 2011 with our old 12 volt system we had. That's only 13 kWh/day - less than half of what we make now for the whole last year.
I remember those days. I remember in January 2011 I was outside at 3:00 AM at 32 below zero, trying to get a 12 volt Tecumseh gas charger started because we were out of power and the inverter was screaming it's shutdown song. I thought we were doing pretty good. But life wasn't near as luxurious as this last year, as far as how we've gotten used to having real power in the house
**this winter has been unusual. Normally March means we're in the dead of winter and starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Spring shows signs of arriving. This year in March, we got green grass, buds on the trees, excessively calm wind, and bright sunny days @ 70 degrees.
The wind power is working overtime tonight, though, with a nice 15 mph breeze out of the ESE. We got a steady 1.7 kW coming in from wind tonight, and that adds up quick. That wind holds out for one day and we get 40 kWh from wind in a 24 hour period. Except the forecast I seen last shows it's supposed to pick up to 25-30 tomorrow during the day. When that happens the Classic controller doesn't let the solar panels work because the turbines got the bank right up against the stops before the solar can even do anything. And I'll probably end up having to shut a couple turbines down because we can only heat so much water when they all start pushing 2 kW.
Interesting, Woof pointed out this really cool map in a different thread:
http://hint.fm/wind/I have determined that that map is compiled from surface observations at airports. That map shows a 9 mph wind speed for our location, which is what the local airport is reporting. My anemometer @ 74 feet is showing 14.8 mph ave.
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Chris