Without Batteries

It looks like batteries are a big part of the cost, with no long term duration of reuse. Have you seen anyone come up with small scale wind or water power that regulates AC without the use of batteries. There must be by now electrical and mechanical ways to do this. The bigger power plants have had this for a long time. Our long term future may ultimately depend on finding such a solution. My initial thoughts are it may be easier to regulate water power than wind.

Offered by Mike.

It is possible to go direct from wind through an inverter to AC output without batteries. I have seen refurbished batteries as low as $50 for 6 volt 300 amp-hour. Batteries are simply to store unused power. Without batteries, power lost is power lost. Power used will need minimally a voltage regulator, or an inverter to convert DC to AC. Unless you build or buy your own inverter, you will get DC. 220/240v will also require a transformer. A lot of 220/240 volt equipment may require two-phase instead of single phase power. One big problem with wind power as opposed to solar, is that when charging batteries, or with direct use, any power above and beyond that being used will require a diversion load, usually a heating coil, to consume the excess load. Otherwise the system could burn up. Most wind systems usually include something for the diverter load.

Offered by Steve.