I'm very frustrated right now. I'm looking into ways to wire up a wind generator. A relative bought me a Hornet wind genny for my birthday, and I'm reading the instructions. It says to use 1.5" SCH 80 WATER pipe, and run the wires inside that pipe.. and use welding cable. I don't know if the welding cable is per NEC, but I seriously doubt running wire thru water pipe is legal. Also, it says that you can use NEMA 6-15 outlets as 12VDC outlets, as long as you dont have any plug-in 220V appliances in the building. Again, this is a violation. It looks like someone bought me a useless $500 birthday present. Not to mention batteries... controls.... most control's I've seen are either field-engineered or not UL approved. As much as I would love to have alternative energy in my house, I want to follow code. I've alreay taked to the building inspector about the tower, he said it's a go. I aven't talked to the electrical inspector yet. I don;t think I will, as it is useless. The wind genny doesnt even have a UL sticker.
.....enough ranting, My question is:

If I set up this system without connecting it to the grid, do I still have to follow the NEC? I'm 99.99999% sure that the answer is yes, but I need an expert opinion. My gut feeling also says I should stop now before wasting my money/time.

Thanks,
Josh.
(p.s. I know some of you dont like the alt. energy idea in a home-by-home basis. I apologize for any ignorance, stubborness, or dumb questions that stem from this [Linked Image] )

(p.p.s. Could I call myself my own power company and not fall under the NEC? lol don't answer that, it was a joke!)