Hey guys.
Anybody successfully using wind energy down in Cape Town?
Just thought about it now on this rainy day as PV Charge is pretty low 
.
Regards.
JJ
It works, but its expensive, and makes a noise, neighbours might complain. Maybe new technology are better, but the price for 1kw is a bit out of my league.
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On another forum it was debated … find out who in your area has a weather station that logs wind speed, days of the year you have wind, where YOU live.
Turbines need to be very carefully researched with exact data on wind potential.
ROI’s are not favorable at all.
Joke: Said to kids the other day whilst driving past those HUGE wind turbines:
See guys, the turbines are standing still, no wind. See?
Now when they start turning there is always wind right?
Know why?
Because they make the wind!!!
THAT is where the wind comes from guys!
They believed me … and when they grow up, I’ll get the “evil eye”. 
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Hilarious!
On the technical side, that’s a bit too involved for me. But good to know it takes some more research than simple(compared) solar panels.
Will have to wait for the East to make them cheap ;). And I am not poking the neighbors anytime soon. Enough noise coming from this side with my mile long fix it list.
That’s basically the reason not to bother. Unless you live on the west coast and you have a constant breeze, the power is too intermittent, and by the time you need to pull it down again to do brushes, slip rings, bearings, or because a blade broke (all things that can and probably will happen over the course of a decade), whatever money it has saved will go right back into it. You never get your money back for a wind turbine, with two exceptions 1) You’re running bitcoin miners with all that wind power, 2) You’re off-grid and the next best option is a Diesel generator.
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Yes, PV are a better option with much less wear. Wind is not an install and forget option like PV.
It is possible to get them to last a long time, but that is not for the average person as you will have to do regular maintenance on them. Keep the bearings running smoothly and to make sure they do not spin out of control (they can only go up to a certain wind speed - then they start to self destruct )
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I wonder how the Bitcoin farm is doing… Prices on the rise again!
The mining as such is not doing well at all. Way to many miners and the reward halves every 4 years. Better prices usually lead to more transactions, leading to more blocks being mined, leading to better profits, but still not worth it in my opinion.
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