Daily Californian, California
Nov 17 2004

Efficient Vertical Wind Turbines Developed

Wind Turbines Provide More Power, Reduced Maintenance Compared To
Traditional Models

By NATALIYA ROVENSKAYA
Contributing Writer

Berkeley researchers have helped to fashion a wind turbine that can
provide power at a more efficient rate, with lower noise and
maintenance and fewer bird fatalities than traditional windmills.
This month, the researchers collaborated with engineers in Russia,
who have been working to establish 1-kilowatt and 3-kilowatt wind
turbines in barren locations.

The vertical turbine blades spin at about twice the speed of the
wind, much lower than the tip speeds of horizontal turbine blades.
The faster tip speed makes the blade both noisy and dangerous to
birds – many species of birds are being killed by wind farms, leading
land stakeholders to find a solution.

`The blades travel at roughly 40 mph in a 20 mph wind, so if the
blades are made plainly visible, birds should be able to see and
avoid the blades most of the time,’ said Glen Dahlbacka, researcher
in the Department of Energy at the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory.

Dahlbacka and fellow researcher Joseph Rasson traveled to Russia to
inspect the 3-kilowatt turbine unit.

Infrequent high storm winds cause the blades to spin faster than
researchers intend, so the turbines are shut down on storm days.

The vertical turbine system has an alternator designed to spin at the
speed of the turbine and generate about 200 volts of energy. The
alternator and turbine are a single moving part of the system and
lead to reduced maintenance requirements.

A computer controls the speed of the turbine and keeps it operating
at a maximum efficiency for a given wind speed.

The researchers are expecting success and they believe the Russian
market alone will guarantee this. Projects are also being conducted
in Khazistan, Armenia, Ukraine and Georgia, and all have a U.S.
industrial partner involved. Empire Magnets will attempt to
commercialize the wind turbines in the United States and in
California and New York especially, as these states, according to
Dahlbacka, have good rebate and tax structures for renewable energy.
The researchers are expecting the first windmills to arrive in
February and March.

`The city of Berkeley has even offered a site for a demonstration
wind turbine near the Marina. Around the Bay Area the environmental
conditions are among the most favorable you can imagine.’ Dahlbacka
said.

The windmills are also convenient because they are suitable for both
residential and ranch areas. Since Russia has a lot of remote open
space that can be used for wind power generation, there have been
many requests from people who live in Russian country houses or
villas, called dachas.

`The 1-kilowatt wind turbine is very good for nomadic cultures
because it is designed to be disassembled and put in the trunk of a
car or equivalent space and taken from place to place,’ Dahlbacka
said.

In the next year researchers plan to field 30 of the units in
environments from Siberia to the Altai Mountains and from British
Columbia to the Mohave to test the systems in extreme conditions of
wind, temperature and precipitation.