@blott welcome to the forums. Apart from the planning application, have you given any thought to a make/model of the wind turbine? All the "coming soon" home solutions I've been following are still in development and/or seeking additional funding with no timeline provided on when they might be available?

We’ve had our SD6 turbine for six weeks now. 

Typically, the first couple of weeks were unusually placid so did not generate a huge amount of energy. 

Since then, the wind has largely been good and since install we’ve generated over 1MW of electricity. 

Until we’ve had a year of data I don’t want to judge whether it has been worth it or not but I’m pleased so far. 

The batteries have been great, and I especially like it when they are being charged by free wind power for us to use later.

@transparent, how easy is the "connection" of a wind turbine to a home, assuming you've got planning permission? Since you've done this, are there any tips/suggestions/pitfalls that one should be aware of? 

Hi. I'm having PV installed tomorrow and have only recently given thought to fitting a vertical turbine to my house end, facing the next pair of semi-detacheds and making use of the Venturi effect between our two houses, but I fall foul of the 5M distance to their boundary rule....unless I apply for planning permission. The Venturi effect means I can't put any potted plants in that gap as it often rips them out of pots or thrashes them! So, before i lock horns with the planners, I need to find an efficient & reliable vertical turbine, that I can mount on my house wall.

@editor This is very true. I looked at all sorts of new and different technologies. 

But the best option by far (and typically only one available) was the tried and trusted horizontal turbine. 

Even inverters are difficult for turbines and there isn’t a huge amount of choice out there. Thankfully Sunsynk inverters can be used for domestic sized ones, enabling monitoring of generation etc on an app that the older models don’t have. The power curve needs to be programmed by the installer or in my case SD Wind themselves. 

Also, companies such as GivEnergy and MyEnergi suggest their inverters can be used with turbines, but in reality they can’t. 

Wind turbines are difficult as there isn’t clear information out there and these new solutions look great, but in reality are stuck in development. 

I forgot to add that I'm only looking to top up my batteries during cloudy (and hopefully windy) days, not to use the turbine to power my cooker!😁

@knukes I have ask for context, but how much did this set back you roughly with the turbine, installation and supporting kit? 1MW in six weeks is really, really good.

I had a horizontal-axis turbine operating for 3-years and I agree with @jancold that some bearings don't seem to last.

I was told by the UK-based supplier of the PMG (Permanent Magnet Generator) that they'd replaced the Chinese bearings with German ones.
They hadn't.

As the bearings started to fail, less energy was being removed as electricity, and the PMG got too hot.
The result was insulation breaking down on the windings, which resulted in a contained fire at the top of the pole.

Had I known, I would've replaced both bearings myself with a pair from German manufacturer, Fag.
These are well engineered and relatively inexpensive.
They're readily available in the UK from Bearing Boys and other outlets.

That brings me on to a related issue... you must take the electricity being generated from a turbine.
Unlike a PV panel, you can't just open a switch if your battery is already full!
Removing the load from a turbine causes it to spin faster, resulting in heat and subsequent bearing failure.

So you need to have a dump-load which absorbs any excess generation.
Typically that's an immersion heater in a large cylinder of water, because it has high thermal capacity.

I have a 1172W 24v immersion heater by T.P. Fay in my 280l thermal store.
That proved successful, having tried two previous immersion manufacturers, whose units failed.

The high-current relay in the photo is controlled by the thermostat to the right.
If the temperature at the top of the thermal store reaches 90°C, the relay switches the dump-load to be a set of air-blown heaters.
These are DIY, using wire-wound resisters and 24v fans from a 'surplus store'.

I'm really just skimming over the basics here.
If anyone requires further technical detail, then please ask.

@editor It was expensive. 

It cost around £4k for planning fees and consultants, £38k for the turbine (including concrete, cabling, inverter etc) and £9k for the batteries and some electrical upgrade work we needed to do anyway whether we got a turbine or not. Of course, prices went up considerably over the 18 months we went through the planning process. 

I look at it holistically though as we also spent £12k on two ASHPs a couple of years ago and that was the start of the journey to ultimately save money and save carbon. 

We used to have LPG gas delivered, and used to have petrol and diesel cars but now have three EVs two of which are company cars. 

When taken altogether (savings on gas, petrol, and electricity), the inheritance money I spent on all of this should be paid back in 6-8 years all being well. 

But I don’t think it would work for everybody as we live in a windy, rural location and had the space to place the turbine far enough away from our house and other houses. To make it work, you need consistent strong winds. Gentle breezes generate little or none at all. 

@knukes Unless of course, you have bought one of those detailed on YouTube ‘Features’ that start to spin on little more than a gnat’s f*rt. They wouldn’t tell an untruth would they!?!?

@toodles I knew exactly what I was buying and did my research.

@knukes It is obviously a technology that is still developing; the people sucked in by the adverts I describe are likely to be disappointed as the product is highly unlikely to meet the claims of the promoters as I understand it. There is one thing for sure, with the expenditure involved in planning, purchase, installing and connecting up, one certainly needs to do a fair amount of research. Please report on progress as though I don’t have space for a turbine, I would still like to know how it progresses please. Regards, Toodles.