Windstar 1500

Front view of four Windstar 1500 turbines arranged in a LAVTS.  Click here for more renderings.

Wind Harvest International is nearly ready to install the first Windstar 1500 LAVTS and begin the process towards international certification and commercial sales.

Each turbine has a swept area of 1500 square feet, with twelve 20 foot blades per rotor connected so that two blades are aligned and will exhibit an aspect ratio performance increase closer to that of a true forty foot blade. A single arm extending from the middle of the shaft holds the top and bottom of the paired blades.

The rotors in a Windstar 1500 LAVTS pass each other at 30 inches apart as they revolve in opposite directions. The LAVTS are placed perpendicular to the main wind direction. The more uni- or bi-directional the wind resource, the more rotors/turbines can be installed in an array. Since the center rotors produce more energy from the coupled vortex effect than turbines on the ends, the longer the array, the greater its efficiency. Each additional turbine in an array only needs two columns with their two foundations versus four when a turbine is installed alone. This can save 10% on installation and steel pipe and fabrication costs.

With shorter arms and no torque limiting device, the Windstar 1500 is designed for highly turbulent and energetic wind conditions such as ridge lines, mesas and mountains which experience near-ground, wind speed up effects. The shorter arms of the model 1500 make them more durable and allows more turbines to be installed in the best wind locations (1 MW per 532 linear feet). The 1500 LAVTS continue to generate electricity in 65+ mph winds while most modern HAWTs will cut out in 45 and 55 mph winds.

Each turbine in a Windstar 1500 LAVTS has a 75 kW induction generator that is engaged when the rotor's RPM reaches the needed speed to produce the induction effect. Then the control panel allows the energy to reach the wind farm's substation. A single turbine in a seven turbine LAVTS (525 kW) is expected to produce 100,000 kWh per year in a typical 14 mph (6.3m/s) average wind speed location. Because the energy in the wind is the cube of the wind speed, the same turbine in an 18 mph site (8.0 m/s) should produce 200,000 kWh.

Windstar 1500 Technical Specifications

Type	Vertical Axis, Straight Blade	Generation Rotor Speed	45 RPM
Power	75 kW	Cut-in Windspeed	14 MPH
Voltage	480v / 3 Phase / 60 Hertz	Max generation Windspeed	65 mph
Type of Generator	Induction	Type of Brake	Mechanical and Aerodynamic
Rotor Diameter	37.5 ft (11.43 m)	Brake Articulation	Mechanical and Pneumatic
Blade Length	20 ft x 25.5 in (6.1m x 0.6 m)	Output per year at 14 MPH	99,000 kWh*
Number of Blades	12	Output per year at 16 mph	142,000 kWh*
Number of Modules	2	Installed Cost	$1100-$1750 / kW
Swept Area	1500 ft2 (139.4 m2)	Superstructure Height	50 feet (15.2 m)
Superstructure Width	40 feet   (12.2 m)

*when installed in a 5-turbine linear array