Every local authority will have their own policy governing home wind turbines and the application process can be frustrating.  In fact the smaller your land size, the more objections you may have to contend with from neighbors.

It pays to be on good terms with your close neighbors, as with any council building or development application.  Do your research first into the size of turbine you will require, then make a preliminary enquiry at your local council. Specifically make sure you investigate the amount of noise a small turbine will make.  Armed with this technical data you may wish to sound out your neighbors first.  A neighbor who is informed and understands what is involved is less likely to create objections to your project, unless what you are proposing is well out of scale to your yard and neighborhood.

A concept that is gaining some interest is community wind.  If large wind is commercial applications, and small wind mini residential turbines, commercial wind is a shared neighborhood facility that can benefit all the participants. Again this is not yet a common occurrence.  But as the need increases to provide more electricity in a renewable manner, we will have to find more innovative ways to accomplish this.

For some idea of wind turbines available, click here

In most circumstances, rural applications would have fewer restrictions. You would also have more options on where to site your turbine to take advantage of local wind conditions.  In residential areas there will be stipulations as to how far from boundaries you need to be . Mini home wind turbines are less invasive, and roof top turbines are now an area being investigated by many companies.  These turbines come in a variety of shapes – you are not installing a huge old fashioned wind mill on your roof.  Check out the amount of power that can be produced by these means – you may need more than one home wind turbine to deliver a reasonable amount of green power.

Some types of wind turbines

Tags: home wind turbine, Small wind turbine