Reply #5: They're a little more complex than that

[midnight armadillo]

A small scale turbine needs very lightweight blades (carbon fiber is great) to generate loads in low winds, change the pitch of the blades to handle high wind loads, and feather them in very high winds to prevent damage. Then it has to run very reliably in a completely exposed environment in all weather, AND reliably produce a regulated DC voltage output. They're somewhat complex, very highly engineered devices, so they're pricey in small quantities.

What one really needs is a very tall tower to get away from ground turbulence and take advantage of sustained winds at ~75 feet or so. The problem is that a tall tower often costs as much as the turbine itself, complicates maintenance, and you need enough property to hold the whole thing so if it falls over it doesn't take out the neighbor's house.

I think the small turbines are very cool, esp. since they produce more in winter than in summer (seasonal winds) which is the opposite of solar so they complement each other. However, they're even more site-dependent than solar and are more complex to manage. I'll wager for most people it's more economical to do a larger solar array than do wind + solar.