VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Anyone know anything about vertical axis wind turbines?

i think they're less efficient than horizontal turbines, partly because the closer to the ground the 'dirtier' the wind is, and as they turn half of the revolution is going up wind, im sure theres other reasons too... most vawts were built 10-20 years ago from what ive seen.

they are 50% as efficient however work much better in turbulent areas because they do not have to turn to face the wind.

I've been at meetings recently where different turbine technologies have been presented; the big machines now have something like a 120 m diameter, the tips of the blades are going something like 600 kmph (though smaller turbines can be just sub-sonic); I thinks its pretty hard for the vertical axis to compete on the big scale, at least in clean wind. There is a several year wait period to get each one, they are in such high demand.

Can't wait for the auto-sining kites to come on-line to produce power; those will be amazing to watch if its really feasible.

...but I guess I digress from the topic of vertical axis turbines...

the VAWTs don't compete on the commercial wind farm scale however are much better in cities and rural environments, they make very little sound and are fairly attractive, the several year wait lists are for the large horizontal turbines for wind farms mainly, VAWTs are fairly easily purchased and can be shipped within months...

also, some developers are starting to put VAWTs in between their large horizontal turbines, high pressure develops there because the wind is pushed around the side of the large turbines blades

anyone know of any that have been installed around vancouver island? i am talking about ones 50kW and less in size...

wind belt ... very cool
http://montaraventures.com/energy/2007/ ... d-harvest/

Does anyone know if a wind turbine is economical in this area?
Specifically at the spit in comox - based on archived data? It would be fairly useless in the summer - but in the winter when electricity demand is greatest it would be fairly active.
Any thoughts?
thanks

Doesn't look too good according to these models:
BC Predicted Windspeed Map http://www.bchydro.com/rx_files/environ ... nt1839.pdf
and http://www.windatlas.ca/en/maps.php

More info here, if you feel like downloading the files:
http://www.bchydro.com/environment/gree ... r1764.html
also here:
http://www.seabreezepower.com/page178.htm

Sorry Colin for the thread hijacking.

I remember a documentary from years ago about Jacques Cousteau designing and testing vertical turbines for use on ships. His design worked, and allowed for up to 30% fuel savings I believe, but of course it was spurned due to the cheap availability of fossil fuels. It is referred to as the cousteau cylinder now, and a search for it brought up this link where they sell vawts,

http://www.windside.com/products.html

the cousteau/flettner ship

http://cleanfieldenergy.com/

a canadian made vertical turbine....I called them last Friday...+/- 16K$ for a 3.5kw set up....!!!? still pretty steep....

anyone knows about a more affordable set-up...??

More affordable and faster delivery:

www.urbangreenenergy.com

thanks colin, I do like the design of their upcoming vertical 4kw.....

Wind power is generally viable using a large scale farm is built in a very consistently windy location. For off-grid applications, less windy sites can be viable compared to using a diesel generator.

The minimum average viable wind speed for a farm is 7 m/s or 25 km/hr. That can compete with 8.8 c/kWh IPP power. We currently pay 6 c/kWh for residential. Knob Hill on North Vancouver Island meets this along with spots in the peace river area. Quadra Island and other Georgia Straight sites were considered but aren't windy enough to compete today.

If you talk to anyone who has tried using a turbine, you need to install it well above any turbulence like trees and buildings. Colleagues have installed monitoring at supposedly "really windy" sites and almost all of them turn out duds.

Some tall buildings have successfully installed turbines in their cooling towers. These mini turbines for houses though are a silly idea because there isn't enough wind. A turbine in the country that could supply power for a house costs about $200,000.

The Magdelene Islands have a bunch of VA turbines. "Egg beaters"

Thats too bad...
It would be nice to make use of those big southeasters to generate some power - although a lot of turbines top out at a given wind speed, don't they? I guess some of that power would end up going to waste.