Wind Energy Calculators

Turbine output, capacity factor, shear correction and payback. 7 calculators for small and community wind. Panels and inverters sit under Solar Energy.

Tower height wind boost decides whether a small turbine is worth installing at all. Wind speed rises with height above ground, and available power rises with the cube of wind speed, so the two compound hard. A 25% gain in wind speed from a taller mast is close to double the power. That is why the standing advice is to spend the money on height before the machine, and why a turbine bolted to a house roof almost never earns out.

Wind shear correction is what lets a measurement taken at 10 m estimate output at hub height. The exponent depends on terrain and the effect is not small. Open water and smooth ground shear gently. Trees and buildings shear hard, and they add turbulence that the manufacturer’s power curve never accounted for.

Capacity factor is the honest headline number here, not rated power. Rated power is a figure the turbine reaches on a handful of days a year.