Modular windmill?
The exciting prospect of this design is it's flexibility...both with the height as well as the ground footprint. It is modular in height in 12ft increments from as small as 24ft (bottom box is enclosed generator room) and will soon be capable of up to 144ft (plus connection spacing) in height. The aileron system is the gold mine, as every 10ft of width increases the output of the rotor 300%!!!
It is in prototype stage and it is not exactly known yet how wide the ailerons can be before power increase drops off (at some point resistance to flow makes the wind want to go around-like a building), but it is expected a 72ft tall machine with 40ft ailerons will rate about 250Kw at 35 mph. This size machine will be offered at less than $400K (aiming for $299K. Current technology costs about $1.8M for 1.5Mw machines. This however is not permitted or installed.
Because the modular system is so flexible, permits can be achieved in LESS than 90 days for individual installations because of the lower height capability. In Wisconsin, if a windfarm is under 15Mw of supply and the towers are under 80ft tall, the permit process is just like putting a small unit on your roof. Why? Because there is no technology that can feasibly fill this niche, so it is essentially an un-regulated area. Obviously permitting with the utility companies is a different story, but I cannot believe with state mandates coming due that it will be an issue.
The reason wind farms with current technology are built to such scale is because they have to. The pay-back time of installing just one 1.5Mw machine would be almost twice that of installing 68 of the same machines. That's why large scale builders put up subdivisions, the houses are cheaper in large scale.
This is not the case with these machines. The cost per machine of putting up 8 is MARGINALLY more per unit than putting up 100. So this makes possible what I have termed 'micro-scale windfarms'. 8 to 25 acre windfarms...all over the place. Now the 'busy' areas of the grid can be avoided. Eventually with the introduction of Phase 2, a MUCH larger machine, machines can be installed where high-tension wire towers now are and wind-farms will not even need to be.
It is in prototype stage and it is not exactly known yet how wide the ailerons can be before power increase drops off (at some point resistance to flow makes the wind want to go around-like a building), but it is expected a 72ft tall machine with 40ft ailerons will rate about 250Kw at 35 mph. This size machine will be offered at less than $400K (aiming for $299K. Current technology costs about $1.8M for 1.5Mw machines. This however is not permitted or installed.
Because the modular system is so flexible, permits can be achieved in LESS than 90 days for individual installations because of the lower height capability. In Wisconsin, if a windfarm is under 15Mw of supply and the towers are under 80ft tall, the permit process is just like putting a small unit on your roof. Why? Because there is no technology that can feasibly fill this niche, so it is essentially an un-regulated area. Obviously permitting with the utility companies is a different story, but I cannot believe with state mandates coming due that it will be an issue.
The reason wind farms with current technology are built to such scale is because they have to. The pay-back time of installing just one 1.5Mw machine would be almost twice that of installing 68 of the same machines. That's why large scale builders put up subdivisions, the houses are cheaper in large scale.
This is not the case with these machines. The cost per machine of putting up 8 is MARGINALLY more per unit than putting up 100. So this makes possible what I have termed 'micro-scale windfarms'. 8 to 25 acre windfarms...all over the place. Now the 'busy' areas of the grid can be avoided. Eventually with the introduction of Phase 2, a MUCH larger machine, machines can be installed where high-tension wire towers now are and wind-farms will not even need to be.
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