I have been playing with wind turbines and solar panels for around a year now. I have a 1,500-watt wind turbine and 12-100 watt solar panels hooked up to a large battery bank.
Here are the problems with green energy. The wind turbines are basically dead in Kentucky in the summer months. In fall, winter and spring they are great. The solar panels are great in the fall and spring. The heat of the sun on the panels in the summer robs a pretty good amount of your power.
In the winter, the days are shorter, you have to re-angle the panels to get close to the max power and shorter hours. You need twice to three times the panels to get the same power of the late spring and early fall. You need about one-fourth more panels for the summer because of the extreme heat.
To grid-tie the solar panels back into your home to use the power, the electric companies make you jump through flaming hoops. Then, if you produce more power than you use, you do not get paid for it by the electric companies. You get credits toward your bill at a much lower price than they charge you for it. To get any credits you have to have a massive solar panel bank — 1,200 watts won't do it.
The sad thing is the Kentucky Legislature won't pass bills that would force the electric company to pay you for your electricity if you put in a system large enough to sell power back to the electric company. If they would, I would set up a 6,000-watt solar bank and grid tie it to my home.
Derek Casey
Hustonville
