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Wind power alone, or wind with hydrogen storage

A windy site can make a lot of power. The problem is that it makes it when the wind decides, not when the house needs it.

The calm spell problem

A small wind turbine on a good ridge can produce plenty of energy over a year. But anticyclones can sit over a region for days with barely a breeze, often in cold, still winter weather when heating demand is highest. A wind-only house with no storage goes dark in those spells. A house with a small battery lasts a night or two. Long calm spells are what decide whether wind alone is practical.

What it would keep running

  • Home essentials through a calm week
  • Freezer and fridge
  • Water pump
  • Heat pump on still winter nights
  • Modem and lighting

Storing a windy week

With hydrogen storage, surplus energy from a blustery week runs the 25 kW electrolyser and fills the buffer. When the calm arrives, the fuel cell draws on that hydrogen to keep the battery up. Because hydrogen keeps for weeks without losing charge, energy from a stormy spell can still be there after a long still one.

Round-trip efficiency is 30% or less, so you need a lot of surplus wind to fill storage in a meaningful way. A turbine sized only for the house's daily needs will not leave much over to store, which means wind-plus-hydrogen sites generally need a larger turbine than a wind-plus-battery site that only covers a night.

How it works →
The H2OME loop: an electrolyser splits water into hydrogen, the hydrogen is stored in a tank for weeks, a fuel cell turns it into electricity for your home, and the water returns to the loop.

Is your site windy enough?

Wind is very site specific. A turbine behind a hill or a shelterbelt may barely turn while one on the open ridge next door does well. Before investing, measure wind at hub height for a decent stretch, or get a professional site assessment. Council consent rules for turbine height and noise also vary. The pilot will size storage against real wind data, not guesswork.

Questions

Can a wind turbine charge the system directly?

Yes, wind is one of the designed charging sources alongside off-peak grid power and micro-hydro. The turbine's output is fed through the system to charge the battery and run the electrolyser when there is surplus.

What happens when the turbine is braked in a storm?

It stops producing until gusts drop back into its working range. During that time the house runs on the battery and stored hydrogen, the same as in a calm spell.

Do I still need a grid connection?

Not necessarily. Off-grid homes can charge from wind alone if the site is windy enough and storage is sized to cover calm spells. Many people keep the grid connection for night-rate charging as a second source.

More in outages, weather and how it works

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