Frank Heller of Brunswick, ME Can't tell if this a commercial venture--large wind turbines prefer 28-35 mph winds to make profitable power; or a residential >3kW wind turbine.

If residential, I'd use a $100 weather station with a data logger from Radio Shack on the top of a house or mounted on a tree or telephone pole, and then use formulas to approximate the wind speed at greater heights.

$7k is about the third of a cost of a 3kW wind mill...Skystream is about $19k for a 20 meter tower and turbine.

Conduits w. copper, inverters, grid ties, etc. further increase the price.report abuse

sandman21 of OOB, ME Solar power costlier for Florida than nuclear, report finds
A long-awaited report says solar power could be financially viable in Florida, but will be considerably more expensive than nuclear power.
BY JOHN DORSCHNER
jdorschner@MiamiHerald.com
In a much anticipated report that could affect every Floridian's pocketbook, a consultant hired by the state says solar power could be a competitive source of electricity by 2020 in many scenarios, but it will cost considerably more than new nuclear power and natural gas, the main sources of power for present customers of Florida Power & Light.

Biomass -- things like plant waste, wood chips and garbage -- will be a financially viable source in all scenarios, but wind isn't likely to be much of a factor in Florida. Power from ocean currents -- still in a very basic experimental stage -- could be producing power that's competitive with solar by 2017.

These are some of the findings of a draft study by Navigant Consulting, commissioned by the Public Service Commission, which has been ordered by the Legislature to come up with a recommendation for a renewable energy portfolio standard that will mandate a certain percentage of power come from clean energy, to offset the need for foreign oil and the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

The 269-page report is stuffed with numbers and alternative scenarios.

''I'm usually a quick study,'' said Eric Draper, deputy director of Audubon of Florida, after reading the report Tuesday afternoon. ``But the interpretation of the costs in this is so complicated that it's difficult for advocates to do their jobs.

''It would have been helpful to have this data well before the workshop next Tuesday,'' when environmentalists, renewable energy businesses and utilities will discuss the results.report abuse

dave of wells, ME Let the protests begin meet at the "church" braid the pits clip the doo make the signsreport abuse

sandman21 of OOB, ME http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/787608.html

That compares to new nuclear costs of 12.97 cents/kWh in 2020. Natural gas base plants would be 10.09 cents.

But the study says that because solar is a intermittent power source, it would be more accurate to compare it with natural-gas turbines that turn on only peak times, which are expected to have costs of 17 to 23 cents/kWh over the next 12 years.

Wind costs could range from 17.55 cents/kWh in 2009 to 18.30 in 2020, but the report said there was not a lot of financially viable on-land wind power in the state. Much of biomass power would be considerably cheaper, with costs in 2020 ranging from 0.82 cents/kWh to 12 cents.

For power from ocean currents, power could be viable at 17.42 cents/kWh starting in 2015, declining to 13.72 cents/kWh for such plants built in 2020.

How these figures were arrived at -- and how accurate they are -- is likely to be hotly debated over the next several months, with consumer advocates concerned primarily about cost and environmentalists looking at the global warming issues.

''My focus is on the price issue, because that's what's going to be discussed in the Legislature,'' said Draper of Audubon. The politicians are likely to support the green movement ``as long as their constituents don't complain about their rates going up.''report abuse