Our property is located on the top of a significant ridge running north to south. The geography is for the most part flat with a line of trees to the west about 300 yards away. A smaller set of barns and houses lie to the west of the turbine approximately 150-200 feet away. That is one reason why we opted for a 50 foot tower compared to the more economical 32 foot tower. The land to the East begins to drop down towards the river with in 100 feet of the turbine. That allows us to capture everything from the east which is a big part of northeast storms that we are known for. We have great winds from the north and north west which again are only happered by a couple of buildings located about 250 feet away. The South is realtivily open, however we have one significant tree that may interfer some what with our summer southerly wind. Time will tell.

One of the resources I used to determine the feasability of our site was to utilzie The New Engalnd Wind Map, which to all accounts has recently dissapeared from the web. This was a site that allowed you to plug in the exact coordinates of your location easily obtained from Google Earth and average wind readings could be obtained for every direction at a 50 meter hieght. Click here to see our detalied wind map. This information allowed me to compare our wind estimates with those of other turbines in the area. Without question at the time ours had an average wind powerdenisity of 168 expressed in (W/m2). Other turbine locations had readings in the 130-145 range, so I knew that our turbine would be active. These sites also provided the opportunity to generate a wind rose, which displays the same data in a graphic form showing the direction and percentage of wind energy and frequency of wind directions. Click here to see our wind rose.

I have since tried to retrieve those sites and have been unable to locate the links. This although not perfectly accurate gave some sense of confidence as we moved ahead with our purchase and installation. Our turbine expert recently supplied this link to a different informal wind map service. Although not as specific and detailed it can stiil give you a good idea of what the wind may be like in your area. Meridith did confirm my suspicions that some people found out that they could make money from providing this information. This one however is initially free. Enjoy!

http://firstlook.3tiergroup.com/