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Capturing New Markets for Wind Energy

Standard propeller-type horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) cannot economically harvest wind that blows near the ground because these turbulent and gusty resources are too tough on turbine bearings and gearboxes. As a result many excellent wind resources around the world cannot be utilized, until now.

Wind Harvest International (WHI), headquartered in California, has developed a straight-bladed, vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) that offers the first cost-effective solution to harvesting high energy, turbulent near-ground winds. Using a methodical approach that involved designing, building and verifying 11 different models, WHI created a rugged VAWT and discovered the “coupled vortex effect” (Patent 6784566). Each feature represents a breakthrough in VAWT technology. As a result, WHI’s Linear Array Vortex Turbine Systems (LAVTS) can achieve a peak efficiency near the theoretical limit for any type of wind turbine design and will be among the most cost effective of any turbines on the market.

The largest market for LAVTS is expected to be wind farms with good near ground wind resources in the “understory”, beneath HAWTs. This includes most wind farms in California. Wind farms have already invested in zoning, roads, fencing and infrastructure and have maximized the number of HAWTs that can be installed on the land. LAVTS offer the owner the opportunity to double the land’s energy production by adding rows of WHI turbines in long linear arrays between the rows of HAWTs.

There are also large “standalone” markets for WHI turbines. For example, Alvesta Energy Ltd. recently executed a letter of intent for 100 MWs of WHI turbines for the United Kingdom’s Feed In Tariff market. This market is for short turbines (less than 50 feet tall) that are less than 100 kW in capacity. Alvesta Energy has identified hundreds of sites which can’t use commercial HAWTs installed on them and for which WHI turbines are ideal. They can be installed where HAWTs are not permitted because of their impacts on views, aviation, or noise, and where HAWTs are not economical because of the investment needed to improve roads for delivery, bring in cranes for installation and/or maintenance.