alt.energy.renewable

On Sun, 16 Sep 2007 07:20:31 -0700, Tater wrote:

>lately there has been a few smaller windplants on ebay, and I was
>wondering if anyonw has some guideliens as to what prices to go by.
>
>I am thinking of buying one, and would like to get a guideline as to
>what to bid. anyone have a furmula in regards to $ per watt?

A proper 1000W turbine/regulator costs about $2k. Add that much again
for the usual tower and wiring. So about $4 per watt. Use a smaller
model and the dollar per watt price generally gets higher. For
example, the AirX costs about $600. Add about the same for the usual
modest tower and wiring, and rate it honestly at perhaps 200W, which
makes the cost about $6 per watt. You'll probably see much lower
prices on Ebay since common low-end turbines wildly exaggerate their
output specs. Some of them are just modified car alternators. Beware
of sellers who brag that they use cheap bearings, that slip rings are
"old fashioned", that more blades means more power, that a "high-tech"
design produces more watts with a smaller rotor, or that their product
is easily roof-mounted. An easy way to check if a seller is
exaggerating is to compare the watts per square foot of swept area
against a commercial product, which will be in the 15W per sq. ft.
ballpark.

Wayne