Wind Turbine Costs 101
by Brian Bradley
Most existing sources hype up the promise of wind turbines and going green, but hardly anyone tells you how much it actually costs. Some say that you could do it for under $50, but this is tough unless you happen to have lots of spare metal and other hardware at your house already. Here’s what you’ll need to build your own wind turbine in your backyard, and how much each part will cost: 1) A generator is necessary. An Ametek 30-40 vdc generator can be purchased on Ebay at a price between $30 and $50… This is a great choice, especially in lower wind speeds. 3) Next, go to your local hardware store and get some sheet metal (for the tail and body of your wind turbine) for $5. 3) Next, you’ll need to make the rotor blades for your wind turbine using PVC pipe – available for about $10 online or at your hardware store. 4) You can purchase a Hub to use to attach the blades to the motor for around ten dollars at the hardware store or you can construct your own from a piece of circular metal alloy. 5) A Shaft or tower for support can be made out of old satellite TV towers or other materials purchased for around ten dollars. 6) A deep-cycle battery for energy storage can be purchased online for around ten dollars, but you can probably get one free at a golf course or forklift distributor that may have old batteries. 7) Next, a charge controller for protecting your battery will run you about $25. 
A dump load for the reception of any extra energy will not cost you anything if you have an old water heater or back-up battery pack around. 9) Assuming you’re using this wind turbine for your house, you’ll need an AC inverter – expect $50 to $75 depending on the wattage you require. 10) Finally, you need the appropriate hardware to attach the blades to the hub, as well as tools like screw drivers, sockets, and sandpaper – allot $10 to this. We see that the costs of constructing a wind turbine are between $160 and $225, but if you have a few of these items already, theoretically, you could accomplish this for under one hundred dollars!
