The rule of thumb used in siting a home-sized wind turbine is that the entire wind turbine rotor should be at least 30 feet above anything within 500 feet of the tower. Remember to take into account the future growth of trees. Since the rotor extends down an equal amount that it extends above the tower height, the length of one blade is added to the tower height to give us the appropriate "hub height" for the wind generator.

Note that the minimum hub height is just that; it's the minimum tower height that you can get by with and still produce electricity without all of the wind's power being eaten up by either ground drag or turbulence. Increasing tower height above the minimum results in an increased wind system power output. It is usually cost effective to increase tower height up to a point, depending on the size of the system and the local obstacles, usually trees.

Due to their low cost and power output, many micro-turbine owners are reluctant to invest much money in a tower. Mini-turbine owners usually install towers in the 60- to 80-foot range. A mid-sized turbine commands a tower height of 80 to 100 feet, while an all-electric home system will require towers of 100 to 120 feet in height. Remember to include the mature tree height into your consideration of tower height.

There are several different styles of towers that small wind generators are mounted on—freestanding, guyed lattice, and tilt-up. Freestanding towers are relatively heavy duty and stay upright without the help of any guy cables. As such, they are the heaviest towers, and therefore the most expensive, you can purchase for a wind turbine. They occupy a relatively small footprint on your property, and are the best choice when space is a consideration.

Guyed lattice towers use guy cables to anchor the tower and keep it upright using relatively little concrete. Cables stretch from three points near the top of the tower to the ground at some distance from the base of the tower. These towers are quite light compared to freestanding towers, and therefore are the least expensive towers for supporting a wind turbine. However, they require a larger area to accommodate the guy cables.

Tilt-up towers are usually made of pipe, but can also be guyed lattice towers. Instead of being guyed in three directions, they are guyed in four directions. This allows the entire tower to be tilted down to the ground. Unlike freestanding and guyed lattice towers, which must be climbed to install and service the wind generator, tilt-up towers tilt down to ground level for any work done on the equipment. They require even more space than guyed towers, and are priced between the more expensive freestanding tower and the less expensive guyed lattice tower.

You'll be blown away by all the information available on wind power. (CONTINUE)