Hi All

[bucketman]

Hi
New to this Joined cos I will soon get made redundant. So me and the other half have decided to to move. The place we're looking at is a small hotel/large b+b 8 letting rooms. Its off grid (its off every thing).
At the moment its run by a genny and some batteries, gas is LPG, water from a spring.
Would like to get a wind turbine to start doing away with the genny
so if we got it where do we begin
the place has 40 acres so loads of room for the turbine/s
rob

[biff]

welcome to the forum rob,
                 i am sure you will find the advice you are looking for.sounds exciting,,,well water,,off grid, large guesthouse. just the thing to keep you very busy for the next few years.good luck in your venture,
                                                                                  biff

[Richard Owen]

Hi Rob,

Sounds like a great opportunity for an eco-holiday destination.

Lots of information on wind in the appropriate section.

First place to start: clean air is everything. Turbulence is a bad thing. Buildings, hedges, trees, etc. are all bad.

Do you have an uninterrupted view to the SW (where the prevailing winds come from) of at least 100m?

Second thing to look at is solar PV. Quite a few contributors to this group have added PV to their wind installation. I'm sure they'll be along in a while to offer their experiences.

Where are you looking to locate to?

[EccentricAnomaly]

Second thing to look at is solar PV.

I'd have thought solar thermal would go ahead of PV. Both are worth consideration, particularly if the guest house tends to be busier in the summer than the winter.

[camillitech]

Hi Bucketman and welcome,

do you have running water nearby?? cos hydro is the way to go if you have. Wind is the dogs danglies if you've got plenty of it and an open aspect but solar thermal would be the top of my list for a guest house, then PV then wind, but only after carefully considering  your site and at least a years data. Places that seem to have plenty of wind often have the wrong kind 

Good luck, Paul

[Paul and Rona]

Hi Bucketman,
                   Welcome wonder where you are relocating to ?

Regards Paul & Rona.

[clockmanFR]

Hi bucketman,

I am a wind turbine man and have 3off 3.7m diameter Hugh Piggott’s design.

Hugh has published a book on making wind turbines up to 4.2meters diameter, he's been at it well over 30 years and really knows what he is talking about.
http://www.scoraigwind.com/

I make all the bits, machining, welding etc and cast the blades in fibreglass to Hugh’s designs. However each, just in materials is now costing me about £1800 with a 20% increase in bits each year.

So we are going to really expand our PV now, as the price has come down to about £1 per 1 watt.

Good Luck and have fun.

PS. Been at our project 11 years now and nearly finished the Medieval Barn Gite 2, although the Mrs insisted that all the oak beams can be seen inside.

[bucketman]

Thanks for the replies theres loads of clear land round the hotel will try and do a google map thing for Paul and Rona her goes
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=kw11+6uf&aq=&sll=58.317334,-4.091678&sspn=0.01278,0.042272&vpsrc=6&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Kinbrace+KW11,+United+Kingdom&ll=58.319249,-4.080659&spn=0.012779,0.042272&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=58.319249,-4.080659&panoid=ZpZfBmGg2K5Bdg7o1P99uA&cbp=12,286.54,,0,-13.71
bit of a long link but think it works
If you click the X right hand corner you can see it from the air
rob

[camillitech]

Nice spot Rob,

looks good for wind and there's water nearby  Not far from one of our members too 

Good luck, Paul

[EccentricAnomaly]

Not far from one of our members too 

I'm in Tongue.

[bucketman]

I say if we can, the wife says when, we buy it. If you look at sat view the river is ours, all the buildings would be ours, if you look at the river its ours where you can see the grass change colour above the house then down to the b road follow this along until 10 metres past the drive. Then that side of the drive until you get back to the other side of the river where the grass changes colour again.
a big triangle
rob

[bucketman]

Hi EccentricAnomaly
So you know the Garvault
rob

[EccentricAnomaly]

Afraid not. Been up and down both the roads to your east and west while exploring (lived here a year less a couple of days) but totally missed your road across.

[Stuart]

its famous! has a forbes magazine entry the 10th most remost place to stay in the world!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-11404283

[biff]

hello again rob,
          i love the setting,its my favourite scene.the bog and moorland stretching for miles as far as the eye can see.i can only wonder at the amount of work involved in getting the origional building material up there to build your hotel.
      you are sitting on a gold mine.years ago there was a gold rush and people took the road above helmsdale,rushing out into the bog streams to pan for gold. they never did find the proper source but it is up there some where. so all you need to do is buy a few pans and hire them out,pointing to the stream.
    one point i will make,, you need to stock up on good tinned food and dried milk because when the snow somes a 4 x 4 will be as usfull as a pushbike. you will be cut off for weeks at a time.
     its lovely,really nice and i wish you the best and hope you enjoy it.the first move i would make is a 48volt futurenergy turbine and a massive big couple of 48volt forklift batts. then loads of pv.contrary to what one would think,i would not go for one big turbine but instead have a small wind farm.this way you will always have lecky.
                                                     good luck   biff