Economic viability of a 3kW wind conversion system for home energy management

In this paper, the economic viability of a 3kW wind conversion system is been considered for home energy management and net-metering applications. The 5-minute wind data for the period of 2009-2010 are obtained and modeled to determine the potential of this 3kW wind energy system in supporting few numbers of households with a reliable daily energy need. The annual energy outputs of this energy system are estimated at 4.253MWh and 3.912MWh for the year 2009 and 2010, respectively. The monthly mean energy yields are estimated at 0.354MWh and 0.266MWh, respectively; and the daily and monthly energy needs per household are estimated at 3.081kWh and 92.51kWh. An additional household of 2-3 can be serviced with the daily energy needs from this wind energy system. The study concluded that the choice of a 3kW wind conversion system for the site's wind resources at 20m height is economical for meeting the daily energy needs of each household requiring 84.10kWh per month for wind site resources with an annual average wind speed of 5.21m/s.