When most Americans these days think of wind power they envision large wind farms with dense arrays along stretches of hillsides with 200ft high towers. Less commonly seen are smaller wind turbines used for residential, agricultural and business use. These small turbines can range in sizes from 400W to 100kW. In California wind turbines qualify for large state-funded rebates when they integrate with the utility grid. In California the power produced from the wind turbines is first used to feed power to the building where interconnection occurs, whatever excess power produced not used by the connected building is sent to the electric grid. This excess power is credited by the power company to the owner for times when the turbines aren’t producing enough power themselves to fulfill their needs. This is the same net-metering process by which grid-tied photovoltaic systems function.

Power is produced by wind flowing into the turbine blades, the rotor shaft then turns and is connected to a generator which then produces electric current which is fed through a power conditioner to make the power compatible with the grid and connected building’s electric load. Systems independent of the grid are possible as well or may be used as back up power during grid blackouts, in this case power should be stored in a battery or flywheel device.