DIY Wind Turbines: Learn how to build your own to generate free electricity for your home.

According to the man, the idea came to him back in 2012 when heating the office required 3000 hryvnias, while the average salary was between 2500 and 3000 hryvnias. Igor decided to build a house powered by renewable energy sources.

Initially, he purchased a wind generator from a company in the Vinnytsia region, but it did not function properly. Igor aimed to improve the equipment and eventually achieved a power output of up to 800 W. However, the voltage was very unstable, with optimal performance only at high RPMs, which are only achievable in relatively strong winds of about 7-10 m/s. After that, the Ukrainian wanted to create his own wind generator that could generate energy in regular wind conditions.

To build a simple home wind generator, you will need a 300-500 W magnet generator, a 200 mm diameter and 1 m long sewer pipe for the blades, metal parts to assemble the device, and most importantly – a lot of enthusiasm and inspiration. Detailed and visual assembly instructions can now be found on YouTube. However, Igor advises only making horizontal wind generators due to his unpleasant experience with vertical ones.

The main challenge is that the average wind speed is 3 m/s, which means the device generates an average of 20-70 W, while the inverter needed to convert DC to AC consumes 50-100 W. This results in a shortfall of generated energy for any useful purpose. If you build a wind turbine yourself using second-hand parts and without an inverter, there may be some benefit. For this, you need to connect devices to the system that use DC instead of AC; such devices already exist, although they are not very popular.

According to Igor Nedilko, for an efficient system, you need to make 10 small horizontal wind generators of 100-300 W each, add a 1.2 V battery to each, and connect them in series. This way, at minimal RPMs, there will be a constant energy charge with a voltage of 12 V. The advantage in this case will be the reduced speed of the generator rotation, which will preserve the bearings and decrease noise.

"In combination with solar energy and direct current, there is potential to create a stable power source, although I need to complete my project to share my time-tested experience. There are many nuances; the main thing is not to make it vertical, as it produces nothing at all," says Igor Nedilko.

In early July, banks launched lending for apartment buildings in cities, but the funds can only be obtained by housing construction cooperatives (HCC) or associations of co-owners of apartment buildings (ACAB), not individual residents. The funds are provided by the Entrepreneurship Development Fund as part of the "5-7-9%" program, and loans can currently be obtained from 46 banks in Ukraine. To install a wind generator through this program and receive compensation, people need to submit a loan application from the organization itself.

In Ukraine, on August 30, the Ministry of Finance approved a state program for "Energy Independence of Individuals - Owners of Households" for lending, allowing Ukrainians to purchase and install solar and wind power plants with capacities ranging from 1 to 10 kW on their properties. Along with the generating installations, a hybrid inverter capable of operating both in autonomous and synchronous mode with the external grid is required, as well as an energy storage system with a capacity of 1 kWh for every 1 kW of installed power.

The Entrepreneurship Development Fund, through banks, provides funds (up to 480,000 UAH) at 0% interest for up to 10 years. This can be obtained by owners of private households with a property whose total area does not exceed 250 square meters and with one personal electricity account for that property.

Recipients of such state support cannot include:

• citizens of the Russian Federation, except for those residing in Ukraine legally;
• individuals subject to sanctions under the Law of Ukraine "On Sanctions";
• individuals with a criminal record for offenses classified under Section I "Crimes Against the Foundations of National Security of Ukraine" of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;
• individuals whose average monthly combined income with their spouse exceeds ten times the average monthly salary in Ukraine, calculated based on official data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine and/or the Pension Fund of Ukraine over the six months preceding the loan application.

All of this should facilitate the installation of wind generators for powering individual homes in Ukraine. However, Igor Nedilko believes that the loan should be interest-free and for a term of up to 20 years to ensure the equipment pays for itself.