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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 717
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On the island of Hawaii, (Big) there is one geothermal generating plant. They are a small operation, unable to expand nor drill more wells due to the fact that the original peoples of Hawaii feel that that is drilling into sacred ground. There is enough political pressure to prevent any expansion, so the operators of this company have a really difficult time turning a proffit. At least that Island, and probably Maui also could provide 100 per cent of the electrical power requirement for each by using the available heat provided by volcanic activity. But, instead we import fossil fuels to burn and pollute the atmosphere. Somebody give me a bullet to bite on...
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 10,024 Likes: 37
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Over on the alt.energy.renewable newsgroup they talk about this a lot and the engineer types say car alternators are not particularly efficient but the real sticking point is still the battery. Youi spend a lot of money and seldom get much more than 3 years out of them. It really pushes up your cost per KWH
Greg Fretwell
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 339
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Rewired,
Use of a high output automobile alternator for wind is feasible (depending on your definition of the word). A problem lies in getting the alternator rotating at high enough RPM's for operation which may require a larger propeller than you may think is necessary and some gearing.
These little alternators do work well for microhydro generating plants, yet with 24/7 operation, 500-750 watt continuous output, and 20 storage batteries (200 amp-hr each, the design was for high loads of short duration) a wasteful user can drain the system quickly (just plug in a fridge and minor lights and watch your power drain, much better to keep the fridge on propane). You also need a good water source typically better if you have a high head of about 200 feet of fall (the smaller the fall the higher the volume needed).
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 558
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Hey Thank you for the info and the links.
Soon as I have a few minutes I am going to have a look at those sites! Perhaps do a little more research..
A.D
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Posts: 264
Joined: February 2013
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