Application · Off-grid & mountain

Off-grid & mountain wind turbine

A ridge site 3 km from the grid is where small wind beats everything else. Night breezes, winter wind and no shading — the machine earns its keep from October to March, when solar gives up.

Mountain sites share three characteristics: high mean wind speed, strong diurnal and seasonal variation, and ice. The first is an advantage, the second means you need storage sized for the calm week, the third decides whether your blades survive February.

Our cold-climate package adds heated blade roots, a nacelle heater, low-temperature grease and a controller that derates charging below 0 °C to protect a lithium bank. It costs about 12 % more than the standard machine and is not optional above 1,500 m.

Typical load profile

Load	Power	Hours/day	Daily energy
Cabin base load	150 W	24 h	3.6 kWh
Water pump 0.75 kW	750 W	1.5 h	1.1 kWh
Workshop tools	1,200 W	2 h	2.4 kWh
Refrigeration	90 W	8 h	0.7 kWh
Satellite internet	60 W	24 h	1.4 kWh

Recommended configuration

Recommended model: WT-3000H (3 kW) on an 18 m tower
Storage: 48 V 400 Ah LFP (20 kWh)
Hybrid: 3 kWp PV + 5 kVA diesel backup
Autonomy: 3 days at 8 kWh/day
Installed cost: USD 17,000 – 26,000
Output: 6,000 kWh/year at 5.5 m/s

Height is the whole game at altitude

Wind speed rises roughly 10 % per 100 m of elevation, but the local effect of a ridge is larger still: a tower on the windward shoulder can see 30 % more wind than one 200 m inland. Survey before you dig.

Ice changes the specification

Ice on the leading edge costs 10–20 % of output and unbalances the rotor. The cold-climate blades have a heated root section and a hydrophobic coating; the alternative is to accept a February shutdown.

Keep a generator, run it rarely

A 5 kVA diesel set used 30 hours a year is cheaper insurance than another 20 kWh of battery. Wire it to auto-start at 40 % state of charge.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if my mountain site has enough wind?

Measure at hub height for at least three months with a calibrated anemometer, ideally over the windiest season. Wind maps and nearby airport data are useful for a first estimate but routinely wrong by 20 % in complex terrain.

What happens when the battery is full and the wind keeps blowing?

The controller diverts surplus to a dump load — usually a resistive heater in the hot water tank. That is not waste: it is how the turbine is kept under load and prevented from overspeeding.

Can the system run a heat pump?

Only with a large array. A 3 kW turbine plus 3 kWp PV and 20 kWh of storage can run a small air-source heat pump in a well-insulated house, but the winter peak will still need the generator or a wood stove.