We have seen up to now how Wind Power can be used to generate electricity in wind farms and to cover the needs of a home with home wind turbines. Wind Power can also be used in a number of commercial applications to cover some of the needs of your company or organization. The evolution of small wind turbines in conjunction with their reliability, easy installation and low maintenance makes then ideal for commercial applications. Below is a list of some of the commercial applications where small wind power generators can be used:
- Lighting. The small wind turbines can be used to power up a building’s lights or for street lighting and street billboards. They can work in conjunction with the electric utility electricity (on-grid). The lighting system will first use electricity generated from the turbine and when this is not enough it will pull as much needed from the grid. They can also be used as a standalone system without any connection to the grid (off-grid). In this case they require the use of batteries in order to store some of the unused generated electricity.
- Water Pumps. In rural areas, instead of relying on the traditional mechanical windmill, we can use small wind turbines to power water pumps. In this way we can easily provide a continuous flow of water if required with no much effort.
- Telecommunications. In the cases where telecommunication equipment is located off site (mobile base stations, remote equipment) there is a need to provide continues power to the equipment. In some remote locations (mountains, forests etc) this can be very challenging particularly if there is no electric grid available in the area. In these locations we can use a combination of small wind turbines, solar panels and diesel generators to provide uninterrupted power to the equipment.
- Oil platforms. A very common application of small wind turbines is their use on the oil platforms (or other off-shore platforms). These platforms are generally located in the sea where connection to the grid is not possible. Instead of using diesel generators to power the platforms, small wind turbines can be used to cover all or most of the platform’s needs.
- Business Solutions. Even if your business needs do not dictate the use of an alternative source of energy you can always help the environment by using small wind turbines to cover some of your energy needs. In this way you can cut down on your electricity bills and you can make extra money by selling your extra generated electricity back to the electric utility provider (particularly during off-hours).
