Wind and Solar 4th Edition

By Andy Reynolds

Andy Reynolds author, instructor, experimenter, forester, and long term promoter of low impact and self reliant living has partnered with lowimpact org to release an updated version of his popular book 'Wind and Solar Electricity: A practical DIY guide'.

Now in the edition 4, the book gives detailed information about all aspects of taking control of your electricity supply - from thorough safety advice, to what to look out for when buying equipment. He offers practical tips as well as step by step guides to take you through how you can best support your family in being self reliant with your energy needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LowImpact
• Release date: Oct 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215851784

Andy Reynolds

Andy Reynolds has worked as an international concert tour manager and audio engineer for over 20 years. He has toured continuously during this time, working on an average of 200 shows per year. Andy has worked for such bands as George Fitzgerald, Maribou State, The Pierces, Maverick Sabre, All-American Rejects, House of Pain, Machine Head, Nightmares On Wax, Pavement, Roots Manuva, Super Furry Animals, Skunk Anansie, Squarepusher, and The White Stripes. He has worked with bands on tours by such acts as U2, Whitney Houston, Manic Street Preachers, and Foo Fighters. His touring experience encompasses stadiums, arenas, theatres, pubs, bars, clubs, outdoor festivals, rooftops, subway stations, cruise ships, mountainsides, and very, very muddy fields. Andy is also the author of ‘The Tour Book – How to get Your Music on the Road’, the musicians definitive guide to gigging and touring, and 'Playing Your First Music Festival', a gudie to performing at green-field, open-air, music festivals. Andy lectures to students of music management and live audio engineering at the University of West London/London College of Music, Buckinghamshire New University, Cato Academy, and Access To Music.

Book preview

wind & solar electricity

a practical DIY guide

fourth, updated edition

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of Andy Reynolds

Illustrations: Mike Hammer

Edited by Rebecca Stacey

Photos: Andy Reynolds

Author photo: Fran Pickering

Cover and photos: Sol Reynolds

Figure 26: Justin Bamber

Other line schematics: Simon Clarke

Help with research: Lee Rose, Bimble solar, Steca, Marlec engineering.

Contents

About the Author

Introduction

Motivation

The Start

System Components

Wind Turbines

PV Solar Panels

Batteries

Electricity

Grid Connected Systems

Power Backup

Building a battery system

Controllers and Wiring

Storing Excess Power

Primary Research

So there you are…

Resources

about the author

Back in the early 1980s Andy Reynolds moved to Lincolnshire, with his partner, in search of an affordable home and some space to live away from the bustle. They found the Fens to be a land of huge skies, open spaces, and lots of weather.

The sixties had brought into the spotlight the concept of sustainability on a global scale, and the well-deserved distrust of governments and their political manoeuvres. The many wars within the twentieth century and the impending threat of nuclear devastation from the cold war had a huge impact on everyone. It was in this climate of uncertainty that the ideas of sustainability, self reliance and survival were welded together within the thoughts of many people. This disaffection and distrust was clearly reflected in the popular culture of the time with films like Mad Max and Max Headroom: 20 minutes into the future.

With this background and a keen interest in what was then called alternative lifestyle, but now would be referred to as low-impact living, Lincolnshire provided a useful setting. By reducing costs, living well within means, always using reclaimed and free materials, repairing rather than replacing, the partners were able to extend the land holding, taking advantage of a depression in both the agricultural industry and land prices. Through the process of planting woodlands, and creating low-nutrient status permanent grassland, the whole of the property was changed from just another bit of agri desert into an environmental oasis.

This interest in self-reliant living, and having deliberately sought a suitable environment has encouraged Andy’s keen, even obsessive, interest in home-generated power. Being a self-employed carpenter and having basic machine-mending skills enabled him to follow this fascination to some illogical conclusions, as can be seen in the photo of the Cretan sailed windmill later in the book.

Experimentation over several decades and taking the time to consider things, has given Andy vast experience and a practical understanding of various forms of self-sufficient power production. Having researched, installed, maintained and monitored wind and solar systems throughout that time, the outcome of his work so far is that most electrical power for his home is generated on site from a system that combines a wind turbine with photovoltaic solar panels.

The Ecolodge, which is a low-impact holiday lodge built from locally grown and sawn timber in one of the smallholdings meadows, also uses electricity from this source. Through this lodge Andy and his partner introduce people to a different and more enjoyable way of living, by showing them effective ways of reducing consumerism, and taking responsibility for the power they use as a part of everyday living.

No person can be right, even most of the time, so this book should be seen as a guide to further adventures; but Andy’s intention is to share his practical experiences and to spread enthusiasm for, and understanding of this diverse subject. To that end his books are backed up with a Youtube channel that shares practical skills and new ideas or developments. The development of skills, he is certain, is counter to the interests of global businesses, as they require a helpless and pliant target of pointless consumption. So we are beholden to the next generation and the planet's health to keep skills, interest, and self-reliance alive. Taking a bit of time out is helped by not engaging with the consumer world, and to quote Jim Dodge, 'gives you time to sort the mouse droppings from the peppercorns'. Meaning, (we assume), that allowing a bit of down time helps with perspective.

introduction

I first started working with The Low Impact Living Initiative in 2003, suddenly it’s 2023 and I am working on edition four of Wind and Solar Electricity, a book that is intended to help anyone thinking of installing either a wind turbine or solar panels, or simply wanting to gain some understanding of how renewable electricity is generated at home. I am reminded of the well-known song line and then you’ll find ten years have got behind you except it’s twenty years.

This book is primarily aimed at a global audience - those people who wish to improve their lives by having access to reliable electrical power. This however does not preclude those people who wish to reduce their reliance on grid electrical power for either cost or sustainability reasons. This fourth edition was written in response to further developments in the relevant technology, reduction in the cost of some items, and changes in the political incentive in the move to renewable energy. In this edition it would be very easy to go down the route of expensive modern technology, and although some of this is very useful it does not help the down home of us who prefer to understand the workings and technology, and so therefore have a chance of the repairing faults that will inevitably occur. So many of the items and subjects from the previous editions are retained to keep that core information accessible.

The home system that the book and research is based on has seen some huge changes, and the public perception of these technologies has changed out of all recognition. When I started experimenting last century, back in the early eighties, it was only the eccentric or slightly off-beam who involved themselves with such visions. In those times we got involved with making finely-tuned aerofoil blades from timber and rewinding industrial DC motors to generate at low speeds, each piece taking days of work and concentration, and of course trying to do this with reclaimed materials to keep within tight (or non-existent) budgets. Thankfully, attitudes to these technologies have changed and they have become an acceptable norm, but the reasoning behind this change I suspect is only financial for the vast majority, but at long last climate change is no longer a subject for the eccentric, although perhaps human extinction still is.

Decentralised home generation is important for several reasons, some of which were covered in 'about the author', but that relates mostly to people above a certain age. For the majority it is about personal financial stability, especially as the energy crisis of 2023 bites and reveals the true cost of energy controlled by the corporate world. For an increasing minority it also relates to reducing your carbon footprint through reducing your reliance on centrally-generated electricity. In this way you can take some control over the cost of your power, both monetarily and environmentally, but it involves choices and the willingness to understand the question of what is enough.

Systems for home generation of electricity consist of wind turbines, solar panels, or a combination of the two depending on your site, and with either a battery system to store the electricity, or a grid connect system that feeds the surplus into the National Grid. You may be in the rare position to take advantage of water power, which can be wonderful but has its own set of problems.

I appreciate that each home has differing priorities and site conditions, and so the choice between stand alone batteries, grid connected, grid with batteries, with a turbine or solar (or both) is dependent on an individual set of constraints and aspirations.

Figure 1: Power Station

To install your own system you need to understand the basics of all the different elements of the system and so be able to decide what suits your circumstances best. This book takes you through each aspect of the technology, with some discussion, to provide the information you need for the decision-making process. I hope also to include references to the way we did things and how I personally got to the point of a very reliable system that powers most of the home electrical circuits. From time to time I will refer to videos that I have uploaded to YouTube (see resources). They give extra details and practical demonstrations. I hope you enjoy them.

I start with a system components chapter that gives brief overviews of the major parts of a system and then gives some useful details of minor components that can be used for specific home-built sub-systems. Then there are chapters on wind turbines and solar (photovoltaic) panels in which I try to share the magic and wonder of these systems, but also give the details and limitations of each technology and where they are best applied.

The batteries chapter is based on years of experience of using battery banks and trying to keep costs down to a minimum. This includes the different types available, taking care of your battery bank, and revitalising second-hand units, and now includes a section on the increasingly popular lithium cells. All of this groundwork is important to make sure you understand the basic principles and avoid disappointment and wasting your cash reserves. As mentioned in about the author, industry loves to sell you things, even if they are not required. The only way to avoid these traps is by familiarising yourself with the finer details, so you are not sold fairy stories, and (of course) avoiding the words of low-carbon armchair theorists who spout reams of recycled nonsense based on hearsay, not practical experience.

Figure 2: upwind turbine

The electricity chapter tries to take the uninitiated through a bit of theory so that you can at least be confident about the terminology and what is actually happening. This needs to be understood if you want to get the best out of a battery-based system, especially if your property is without a mains-grid electricity connection. In this case you are forced to be self-reliant, but everyone can take steps along that road, and believe me when I say that when you get it right, home-generated electricity is more reliable than mains power. You may want to read this chapter first as terms explained within it are used in all the other chapters.

Having said that, it is important to recognise that very few of us can attain complete self-sufficiency and in many places the next-best option is to use a grid-connected generation with a power sharing battery system. The grid-connected systems chapter deals with synchronous inverters that provide a permanent grid interface and almost but not totally a ‘fit-and-forget' item. There have been many developments, as this option is now accepted by the general public. It is however important to align these systems with a good energy supplier, not just the cheapest but also for carbon pollution issues. Now that the UK Feed in Tariff has ended for new systems then the economics have changed, but at the same time the revealing of the true cost of energy has made a home solar installation almost an imperative.

The building a system chapter is full of tips and information that draws on my years of experience and goes through the whole process to try to demystify it, and to show the practical application of everything covered in earlier chapters. It also includes an easy to build divert charge controller circuit and explanation. This chapter is more likely to be of intense interest for those non-urban readers, and those living in countries with much more elbow room, or less developed infrastructure.

The actual installation of a system is simple as long as you know how to connect things together with cables – and if you don’t, this book does not cover this skill, but it’s not rocket science, so books like Brian Scadden's Electrical Installation Work (see resources) will give you plenty of guidance.

The primary research has been trimmed (and moved online) as not only were the research results quite old, but they only relate to one year. However the pertinent parts have been retained to try to show the difference between extrapolated, commercially-available output figures and real-time, actual outputs during a shortest-day to longest day cycle. The conclusions drawn from the research cannot be considered as definitive but will add to the overall level of system understanding and provide food for thought before the decision to invest in any specific system or generating component is taken.

There are plenty of armchair theorists out there who are more than happy to inform you of their vast knowledge, and the fact that things cannot be done. If in doubt don’t listen as most of them when put under pressure will eventually admit that it was something they had read in some obscure magazine, or heard the neighbours cat talking about, and had not actually done anything themselves. Personal experience is the best teacher, so if you are unsure, do some research and then have a go, as long as it is not things like seeing what happens when you grab hold of a 200V direct current supply, or trying to stop the tide.

Beyond that all I can say is that I hope you get the same level of interest and satisfaction from generating your own electricity as I do, and that with the background understanding you gain from this book, you manage to build or install a reliable system that takes you through the next few decades. The future is always uncertain, but your reliable home-generation system will buffer you from political and environmental influences and you will be truly thankful that you fitted your piece of independence.

motivation

To have a system that produces energy without any man-made input seems like the Victorian dream of perpetual motion and takes us back to an age where energy expectations were far less demanding. A wind or solar system is half way to that utopian dream, in that the energy is derived from natural and sustainable products of our environment. If you want electricity the choice is limited, to where you either buy it through the National Grid, which is the main network for distributing electricity throughout the UK, or you generate it yourself, or a mix of both. This is the dream I started off with, being out in the Fens with big skies and lots of weather, and of course the space to experiment.

There are properties where mains isn't available, so for people living in them the supply question does not exist, as modern life would be severely compromised without electricity. So the main choice for these ‘off-grid’ households is between hydrocarbon fuel-powered generators or a wind and solar battery system with a generator as a back-up charger. There are some in the enviable position where small-scale hydroelectric power is feasible, but from my experience at Baldocks Mill (Bourne Lincolnshire) water wheels are damp and quite noisy, so it just goes to show that nothing is perfect, and the sooner we all accept that, the better. Search: YouTube Andy Reynolds, generating electricity with a water wheel.

But for those of us who have an electrical mains connection there are still quite a few issues, the primary one being, the nature of that electricity generation, and where the profits go. The world, however, is changing and politicians, NGOs, and interested parties are still wrangling (even since edition 3) over carbon reduction, and rapid climate change. The self interest of individual countries and global business seems to be getting in the way as usual. However the most widely accepted view now is that atmospheric carbon (CO2) is making a significant contribution to global warming, and anyone who has been paying attention over the last decade will be well aware of the theory and arguments, so no need to go through it all again.

Most electricity is still generated by burning carbon in some form, like oil, gas, or coal, and so to choose a supplier of only renewable electricity is obviously the quickest and cheapest way of reducing your energy carbon footprint. Surprising how many people never think of this, or come up with the argument that in the grid the green and dirty electricity are all mixed together so how do I know what’s happening. This is dramatically missing the point. It’s the profits that matter - more profit to green generation, more investment in renewables.

Let’s talk a bit more about the National Grid. It’s a huge system based on economies of scale where enormous power stations produce the electricity. Demand and supply within the grid must be carefully balanced otherwise the voltage and frequency of the electricity will vary and create problems within the distribution system and for the performance of the appliances that are being powered. For this reason some power stations are kept running at low output to provide rapid reaction to variations in demand. It is very inefficient for these power stations to be used in this fashion, but it is in the nature of the system that it should be so. The addition of thousands of local home-generating stations (the solar on your roof), can only be a good thing, but the large generators see it as a hindrance and it makes control