I
have been surfing around looking for a vertical axis residential turbine in the 1 to 2 kWe size range since my spouse and I discussed it earlier this week without much luck, any suggestions?
Rather than looking for vertical axes turbine I think you should ask these questions:
1 how good is your wind resource?
2. How much power will you need from your turbine
3. How tall will the tower need to be for the above turbine. For best performance it is recommended that the turbine be at least 30 feet taller than the tallest nearby tree or building.
4. Will your local building codes all the tower and wind turbine. Typically the answer is no if you live in a city.
You might want to look at these sites:
http://barnardonwind.com/2013/02/23/why-arent-vertical-axis-wind-turbines-more-popular/"This site explains why you cannot find a lot of information (other than marketing) about vertical axis wind turbines and in the end states:
Testing by the Sandia Lab confirms all of the above in side-by-side tests of VAWTs and HAWTs, finding that VAWTs will produce 15-25% less electricity for the same swept area with likely higher costs. [11]
https://www.awea.org/Issues/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=4638&navItemNumber=727http://bergey.com/wind-school/residential-wind-energy-systemsThe last link is a page on the Bergey.com, a well respected manufacturer of small horizontal axis wind turbins. There site has a lot of good information on it and they could help you answer many of your questions and even install a wind turbine on your property.