Does the New Windspire Perform Better Than Other Vertical Axis Wind Turbines?

Reader Contribution by Linda Pinkham

I’ve heard that most vertical axis wind turbines don’t produce nearly as much power as the horizontal axis models, but there’s lots of information out right now about the new Windspire. Is there any reason to think it performs better than other vertical turbines?

I contacted the manufacturer of the Windspire to find out why they felt their turbine might perform better than other vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs). They cited two key reasons:

1) The Windspire is designed as a complete system — rotor, generator, inverter, even structure all tied into one package. “Every component is optimized so that the overall system efficiency can be maximized.”

2) The Windspire has a larger swept area than other VAWTs — the Windspire 1.2-kilowatt (kW) turbine has 80 square feet of swept area.

Their reasoning is sound. Balancing system components could definitely create higher efficiency than using unmatched parts. And swept area, which is the effective size of the wind energy “collector,” is key to higher performance for any wind turbine, whether it’s a VAWT or a HAWT (horizontal axis).

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