Can You Own a Personal Wind Turbine In Amarillo, Texas?

The winds have been insane in Amarillo lately, but it's definitely not the first time that we've had to deal with this and it's certainly not the last time we will deal with it.

And with all of the wind that passes through Amarillo and the West Texas area at such insane speeds, it only makes sense that you'd see a bunch of wind farms pop up in the flat terrain that surrounds us.

But here's my question

 Can I Harness The Wind?

It's definitely cool and all to see how much the wind is utilized around here, but all of this use of wind energy has my self-serving mind wondering "Could I build a wind turbine for myself"?

So I decided to look into it.......... and it's a bit complicated but still doable

Adequate Wind Speed

In order to have a wind turbine that produces enough energy to be worth building, you need to live in an area with winds averaging higher than 9 mph. And thankfully Amarillo's average windspeed stands at about 13mph so you are clear in that area.

Zoning Regulations

Another thing that you would have to check is the zoning regulations of where you live in Amarillo. Sadly, after checking the City of Amarillo's Zoning Ordinance, it turns out that you cannot build a wind turbine in most zones in the city of Amarillo. But there are a few select zones where you could potentially build a wind turbine in Amarillo still, but they are few and far in between.

What Kind of Turbine

If you are lucky enough to live in one of these zones that allow for wind turbines, congratulations, you just got past step one.

Next, you need to decide what sort of turbine you would need to power your home.

To choose a personal wind turbine for your property, you would have to consider the energy consumption of your household and the estimated electricity output based on the height of your turbine and wind speed.

Residential turbines range from 400 watts to 20 kW and can be installed at heights ranging from 30 to 140 ft, but for an average home, a 5-15 kW turbine would be enough.

The Cost

For a wind turbine large enough to power an average-sized home, the average cost ranges from $10,000 to $350,000 dollars depending on the size, quality, height, and installation costs so it's definitely a major investment.

Is It Worth It?

To be honest with you guys, unless you either truly believe that you need to power your home off of green energy or have enough to dish out, it may not be worth it. Green energy is good and definitely will have a place in our future but in this instance, it might be better to give it some time.