Windstar Turbine Advantages and Attributes

Easy to Construct Because it is only 50 feet tall, the Windstar 1500 turbine is much easier to construct and install than large horizontal axis (propellor type) turbines as it can be erected with a small crane. The parts are easily bolted together without the need for highly experienced crews. The concrete foundations are a 5 foot cube. The turbine components can be easily transported to remote sites in 40 foot cargo containers.

Easy to Maintain With the generator, transmission, belts and braking mechanism at ground level and a support frame that can be climbed, all repairs and maintenance can be done without a crane. Technicians can be quickly trained to maintain and repair the turbine.

High Output to Cost Ratio The Windstar 1500 has almost three times the wind swept area as the Windstar 530. Its energy output to installed cost ratio will make it competitive with any turbine on the market. When it reaches large-scale fabrication and installation rates, the Windstar 1500 promises to be among the most cost effective turbines in the world. It has the added advantage of being the only utility grade turbine that can be installed and operated beneath tall turbines in wind farms.

Easy to Fabricate Windstar turbines are made from off the shelf components such as generators, belt drives and brakes. Its steel parts are capable to being made in standard fabrication facilities around the world. This low-tech aspect of the turbines gives it an advantage in those countries that provide subsidies to turbines that are fabricated in their country. This design advantage will help drive down the turbine's costs as there will be many companies competing for the opportunity to be do the fabrication.

Attributes that Windstar turbines have in common include:

1. Rugged.   Windstar turbines have operated over 40,000 hours in commercial wind farm conditions in the more turbulent lower layer winds that blow close to the ground.  They have never experienced blade or bearing problems when placed within a support structure.  Windstar turbines can produce power in wind speeds above 65 mph while the best HAWTs have to shut down in 55 mph winds.
2. Patents.  Until 2021, WHI¹s international patents prevent any wind turbine company from making use of the vortex effect. The vortex effect is caused by closely spacing vertical axis turbines in a row. Interaction of the turbines on the wind passing through them provides a significant improvement in efficiency.  The closely spaced turbines share columns and foundations reducing their number and creating significant costs savings that cannot be duplicated without violating Wind Harvest¹s patents.  In the fall of 2006, WHI will apply for a new patent on an aspect of the design that will protect Windstar turbines when placed outside of an array formation.  Like the vortex patent, this new patent will also be scalable to any sized Windstar turbine.
3. Easy to maintain and repair.  All major moving parts (except the top bearing) are at ground level and are easy to access, maintain and replace.   Simple tools and mechanical skills are all that is needed to install, maintain and repair Windstar turbines.
4. Long life.   The cement foundations and the steel superstructure, platform, center shaft and blade arms should last 40-60+ years in most locations. All other parts can be changed out on their 10,15 or 20 year replacement schedule.
5. ISO 9000 fabrication.  Standard, high quality steel can be fabricated into the turbines¹ shaft, arms, superstructure and housing in any ISO 9000 certified factory in the world.  Most nations have such facilities and can produce Windstar turbines in-country thus meeting their internal political and economic goals of increasing local jobs and providing more contracts to local companies. WHI will help these fabrication facilities improve their methods so that turbine parts can be both high in quality and inexpensively produced.
6. Off-the-shelf parts. There are many vendors that can provide the off-the-shelf generators, gearboxes, bearings and other components needed in the turbines. Local suppliers can be found in many countries, increasing the jobs associated with Windstar turbines and thus political support.
7. Low cost.   Windstar turbines promise to be highly competitive in price per installed kW and the energy output to cost ratio.   As production runs increase, costs decrease from larger steel orders, mass manufacturing benefits, larger vendor orders and other factors.  Horizontal turbines are custom built and large orders won¹t see the same price drop that Windstar turbines will experience.  Ongoing design improvements will further reduce costs.  For example going from 19.8 foot to 39.6 foot blades will reduce the number of support arms per turbine from 18 to 12 with significant decreases in costs of parts and installation, as well as increased performance.
8. Bird and bat friendly.   Birds see and bats sonically hear Windstar turbines¹ spinning rotors as solid objects.  These animals do not fly into objects that they can see or hear.  At 30 RPM and six 25 inch wide blades per rotor results in one Windstar 3000 turbine blade passing any given point three times per second.  At that level of solidity and because the blades rotate in the vertical axis, the spinning turbine appears to be a solid object.  In addition, birds of prey can safely land, even nest on the top of turbine¹s support superstructure. These bird and bat friendly attributes will open many excellent wind sites that presently are closed because of endangered species concerns.
9. Safe.  High structural stress margins are used in the design, in particular in the rotor, resulting in high safety margins. The blade arm support cables act as redundant structural members of the rotor. Doubled support rods between the columns provide additional strength.  Ground to blade clearance is 10-feet, which allows human and animals to safely pass beneath.
10. Easy-to-Install and Maintain.  Most Windstar turbines need only a small crane and bucket truck to install. Little training is needed for those who work on installation and maintenance.
11. More local jobs per MW.  Through local assembly, less expensive crane work and more manual labor in installation, and ideally, local fabrication, the purchase of Windstar turbines can create many more jobs per megawatt than any other turbine.  Many local, state and national governments provide financial and political support to businesses that can do this.
12. Quiet.  Rotation in the vertical axis, length of blades and other factors are why a professional Acoustic Measurement report shows that Windstar turbines are much quieter than other turbines.
13. Grazing and farm friendly.    Cattle can graze and farmers can plough beneath the turbines as the rotors spin vertically ten feet above the ground. A strong housing structure protects the generator, gear box and brake.  Foundations are only 2 meters square so little ground is taken up after installation. Many but not all types of farm operations can grow crops beneath Windstar turbines.
14. Lower infrastructure costs.   When installed beneath new or existing tall turbines, already built  roads can be utilized as can security fencing.  The land has already been zoned for a wind farm and permitting a lower layer is less difficult than when starting a new wind farm. When installed in a new installation beneath horizontal turbines, trenching for power lines can do double duty and the distances the lines would other wise be deployed can be significantly shorter when, for example a 100 MW wind farm has 50 MW of tall turbines and 50 MW of Windstar turbines beneath them.
15. Scalable.  Windstar turbines can be scaled up to create tall turbines with large swept areas capable of generating 500 kW per turbine and 3 MW in a six turbine array.  The existing patents for the vortex effect protect all sizes of Windstar turbines in arrays from competition.
16. Visually unobtrusive.  Windstar 3000 model turbines stand only 50 feet tall.  Blades of modern horizontal axis turbines can reach 300-400+ feet into the air.  In many locations, Windstar turbines can completely disappear from views.
17. Easy to transport.  Windstar turbines are designed to be shipped in standard 40-foot long land-sea containers. All the parts of the turbine can be shipped to the site in such a container and securely kept on site until installed.  Forty foot containers can be brought into locations on roads on which trucks carrying tall turbines and their long blades cannot maneuver.  Overall shipping costs per MW can be significantly lower for Windstar turbines.

Additional Advantages:

• Silent operation
• Self-Starting
• Low profile design minimizes visual impact
• Windstars can be co-located with horizontal axis turbines to increase output in new and existing windfarms
• Windstars can operate in extreme wind sites where other turbines cannot