Small wind

See also: Wind (homonymy)

Warning : This article belongs to a series of 5 articles:

the article wind Petit treats domestic use of the wind mills of low power.
the article Éolienne treats principles, technology, calculation and choice of the wind sites.
the article Wind energy treats place of this energy in the worldwide production, of its economic issues and environmental.
the article Débat on wind energy confronts the arguments of the opponents and the promoters of wind energy.
the article Wind energy in Quebec treats establishment and debate on the subject with the Quebec.

The small wind , or wind individual or wind servant , indicates the wind S the small ones and average powers, of 100 Watt S with 20 kilowatts, assembled on masts from 10 to 35 meters, connected to the network or autonomous in isolated site. The small wind one is used to produce electricity and to feed from the electricals appliance (pumps, lighting,…) in an economic and durable way, mainly in rural environment. For example, a small wind mill accompanied by a photovoltaic solar Module and by a park of battery S can guarantee the energy autonomy of a sailing ship (lighting, instruments…).

The essential component so that a small wind mill is economically profitable is the Vent, which must be at the same time powerful and frequent.

Small wind mills " classiques"

The small traditional wind mills are generally with horizontal axis. They generally include/understand two to three Pale S and develop an electric output of 100 Watt to 20 kw. They are manufactured is by professionals (AWP, Bergey, Eoltec, Lakota,…), that is to say in Autoconstruction.

In December 2004, was opened with Narbonne (Aude) the Experimental Site for the Small Wind one of Narbonne (Sepen) to obtain reliable data on the performances of this equipment. This installation makes it possible to test under conditions of strong wind and supported, the performances of 4 " petites" wind mills of less than 10 kilowatts.

The project entitled the Harvesters of the Wind of the company Rebiwind limited liability company proposes to create a buying association for the farmers wishing to install a small wind mill on their ground. The co-operative Enercoop was committed in 2006 repurchasing the produced electric current.

In urban environment

The wind mills known as urban are wind mills developed for the urban environment, generally of small or average power (up to 6 kw). The urban wind mills with vertical axis must be more resistant to the variable winds without requiring device of orientation to the wind (which is very requested for the wind mills with horizontal axis when the wind is turbulent).

In urban environment, the wind weak is compared with the open grounds and especially turbulent (fast variations speed and direction of the flow of air). The potential of this technology is discussed, the promoters stressing that the electrical production would be decentralized directly on the building sheltering the consumers of energy, while the opponents point the fact that the wind is very weak and very irregular in urban environment.

The wind one in urban environment currently is tested and validated by French companies like H2 Development or Gual. Programs of studies are in hand in the Netherlands (Turby prototype of the University of technology of Delft) and in the United States.

According to the Regional office of the environment and new energies (ARENA), it is “a die still with the state of research and development, an application economically viable for the private individuals but few references and regulatory uncertainty and economic technical constraint and experience feedback and. ”.

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