I know this is solarDIY, but it seems like a good place for this anyways. Tl;dr is there a good way to integrate wind and solar without spending a bundle?
Sun only shines during the day, and as distances from the equator increase, day lengths get shorter, and cloudier, and angles get steeper. However, my location has steady prevailing winds. So much so, there’s a wind farm practically in the back garden.
Which has me thinking that instead of a ton of panels and a big battery bank (to make use of sunnier days), a little 1kw or so turbine would go a really long way - especially for steady and/or long-running loads like router/server/modem, refrigerator, heat pump…
I understand that wind turbines make some dreadful power and it tends to be AC. They’re also a bit of a pain to situate but that’s sorta secondary. Let’s say I spin up 10kw of solar, a pile of LiFe batteries, and an eg4 AIO with grid-tie. Is there a reasonable, and safe way to integrate wind? I know one guy who just hooked it straight to his batteries but they were lead acid, and they cooked in a storm. Gave him an excuse to get a big life system instead.
Wind/solar hybrids are actually pretty doable! For your setup, look into MPPT charge controllers that support both - brands like Midnite Solar and Victron make controllers that handle wind+solar inputs. You’ll need a rectifier to convert the AC from the turbine to DC before it hits the controller.
As a backup for critical loads, you might want a dedciated power station too - check out some options on gearscouts.com/power-stations to find ones with the best $/Wh value using LFP batteries. They’re perfect for keeping essential stuff running during maintenance or outages.