Aerogenerator Turbine Latest in New Wind Technology
Posted on: February 8th, 2008 by Emma YoungThe UK may meet its ambitious new wind energy targets through the use of a “vertical axis” wind turbine dubbed the Aerogenerator. At least that’s the claim of the company developing it.
The 144-metre high V-shaped structure would be mounted offshore and capable of generating up to 9 megawatts of electricity. That number is roughly three times as much power as a conventional turbine of equivalent size. Switching to such a design could ensure that thousands fewer turbines would be needed in order to meet the government’s new wind power target, explains Theo Bird, founder of Windpower, the Blyth-based firm behind the new turbine.
The Aerogenerator is just the latest addition to a family of wind turbines that generate power through a rotating vertical shaft as opposed to the horizontal shafts of the more familiar windmill design.
The idea for VAWTs has been around for decades, but despite many advantages the technology had so far attracted little interest. That is about to change, according to Bird. Invented by aeronautical engineer David Sharpe, the Aerogenerator is a further exploration of the egg-whisk-shaped Darrieus wind turbine that solved a number of problems originally posed by the technology.
