Installing free standing steel tower for wind turbine

[Giles Allan]

Hi,

First time here...looking forward to learning and sharing.

My wife and I are planning to construct a cottage and wish to install a wind turbine. Looking at the Whisper 100 (47 lbs.) but don't want to use guys due to the lack of available space. Is it possible to erect a steel free standing tower that would support the weight of this unit 45 feet in the air? Would anyone have any techincal specifications that I could refer to in order to determine the diameter of steel pipe and the size (dimension) of the concrete base...any info would be appreciate.. thanks.

Giles Allan

[Rick Borsheim]

Try using a galvanized steel utility pole. Once you find a supplier, they can pick the proper pole. Generally, they will need to know the swept area of your rotor, the weight of the wind generator, the average wind speeds in your location, and the maximum storm wind speed in your location.

You also should consider that 100 KWH per month is a relatively paltry amount if you don't have other sources of electricity. If you have electrical service at your site, then I would recommend that you connect your wind generator to the grid and sell your power back to the electric company when you are not there.

Rick

[Rick Borsheim]

Giles,

My brother recently put us a small wind generator and used a crank-up antenna tower. It would have the benefit of adjusting the height of the tower to accommodate the wind conditions. It would also make generator maintenance a lot easier.

Rick Borsheim

[Dan Lenox]

Giles,

I am currently using a 70' freestanding 3-sided lattice tower with my 17' wind turbine which weighs in at over 350lbs. It is made by AN Wireless http://anwireless.com. Some pictures of the tower can be seen here (http://www.briery.com/wind_turbine/build_log8.html)

There are also monopoles that can be used for your application, I think I remember seeing up to about 50' for them.

Dan Lenox