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From: (no name) (no email)
Date: Fri Feb 08 2008 - 21:52:51 EST
Wind power or solar power? The answer is location, location, location.
In the U. S. wind power tends to compliment solar power. During the prime
boating season, areas with high average solar power, i.e. Florida, the Gulf,
California, tend to have low average wind velocities most of the year. Naturally
excluding hurricane and Santa Ana events. But areas with average wind speeds
above 12 knots, i.e., Maine, most of New England, the Great Lakes and the
Pacific northwest tend to have less sunlight. The average summer sunshine in Maine
may be only half that of the sunshine experienced in the Gulf of Mexico.
So if you need environmentally derived power to supplement your genset, the
system to choose depends on your boating area. Of course if you travel the ICW
to spend summers in the cool northeast and winters in balmy Florida, you may
need both - or a very long extension cord.
The only area in the U. S. with both high average wind speed and high
insolation is the Nevada/New Mexico desert. Unfortunately for boaters, neither has
much of a coastline.
If you are seriously considering installing a wind turbine, check out the
following site. It gives the average wind energy available in various areas of
the country by season. http://rredc.nrel.gov/wind/pubs/atlas/maps.html
Similarly, the following site shows the amount of solar energy available in
various areas. rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/redbook/atlas/
As far as personal experience goes, my boat is kept on a mooring. I have a
small solar panel installation just sufficient to keep the battery fully charged
and run the bilge pump. I had an Ampair wind charger on a previous sailboat.
It worked well 24/7 and had a high output when the winds were over 15 knots.
On the other hand it was noisy and required periodic maintenance. The plus was
that it kept the gulls away.
Larry Z
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