Domestic Wind Turbine Planning Considerations

Does anyone have any experience or come across guidelines for domestic wind turbines..

If I was to erect a wind turbine at my home, what planning considerations are there, maximum height/size etc. Can I locate the turbine in the middle of my garden and to what height. If it is on the house to what height.

TV aerials and satellite dishes on you roof are exempt "once it does not exceed 6 metres in height above the roof" according to Dept of Environment Planning Leaflet PL5.

look up surface power dot com and you will get a link to enviroment regs. Basically max 10 m high and 11 m to boundary or residence.

There are two planning exemptions - agricultural and domestic. For domestic, the permitted height to the tip of the blade is 13m. For agriculture or commercial sites, the height is 20m.

There are other restrictions - noise, distance from boundaries etc. You can download the statutory instruments for these planning exemtions on http://www.environ.ie (www.environ.ie) or you will find the domestic one here and the agricultural / commercial one here

These are not limits on the turbine you can put up - simply exemptions to planning. Provided you are willing to put in a planning application (and are successful) you can go above these limits. There is a risk that by exempting a height of 13m, someone with a site that really needs a 20m tower won’t go to the trouble of putting in a planning application, and will end up with a severely compromised turbine that is inneffective.

As for the boundaries between what is an agricultural site, and what is a domestic site, there are no clear lines that I can see. Cabbage patch anyone?

Would a domestic turbine really give off enough power to supply a whole house with power ???

I hear that the wind turbine at the Guinness Brewery only supplies enough power to light the hut that the security guys sits in !

quentingarga thanks for the reply..

have done some research into viability of wind turbines in an urban area. Research done in the UK shows that it is generally not a viable option, see..

http://www.warwickwindtrials.org.uk/2.html

All that follows is hearsay, as I'm not qualifeid to comment definitively no any of this, but here goes...

I understand the turbine needs laminar flow to work most effectively, i.e. its blades need to be driven by a steady linear airflow, and not just the occasional eddy or gust.

Well- screen or treed sites are apparently a disaster, but so are urban plots surrounded by high buildings.

The blades need to be 6M clear of any obstruction to the flow so the one guy I heard of sellign 8M towers is wayyy off the mark for a two storey house site.

Two issues arise - firm foundations and noise.

It stands to reason that any significant rotor width in a linear flow in a storm will experience a rotational force at the base of the column.

Unless this is adequately resisted, the tower may collapse catastrophically, perhaps causing damage to property or injury of death to persons.

This means we should all ensure that anyone putting up one of these gizmos near us has the installation designed and overseen by a competent engineer and that his house insurance covers him [and us] in the event of any misfortune.

The benefits of air power in Ireland are obvious - electricity when the sun shines least and the wind blows hardest - in the winter.

However the total package needs to be costed, particularly in relation to credit availability from providing power to the national grid.

I think I read somewhere that this wasn't possible in Ireland yet and someone might correct me on this if I'm wrong.

TIA

FWIW

ONQ.