Vertical Axis Wind Turbines
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) can be either small or large. Regardless, they are not the mainstay of the wind industry. Very few exist and even fewer than those work. For many years, I kept these pages as subcategory of small wind turbines. However, this arrangement no longer worked well with the current web site design so I’ve put them under the main category of wind turbines even though most serious work on the technology ceased years if not decades ago.
Chapter 6. Vertical-Axis and Darrieus Wind Turbines, of my book Wind Energy for the Rest of Us: A Comprehensive Guide to Wind Power and How to Use It, has an extensive discussion of the technology–all in one place.
There is also an extensive collection of archival and recent photographs of VAWTs and various forms of Darrieus turbines on the Photos section of this site. There you can find photos of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines.
Poor Comparison Between Small VAWT and Small HAWT: UGE’s VisionAIR Pushing the Limits. . . of Hype
By
Paul Gipe
In the spring of 2014, Urban Green Energy (UGE) announced with much fanfare that they had completed third-party performance testing …
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines: Great In 1890, Also-rans In 2014
By
Mike Barnard
Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) continue to get attention, press and R&D funding. Antagonists of mainstream wind generation continually point at them as if they were a superior technology. People perpetually re-invent them and believe that they have found something new and exciting. However, they are undeserving of any significant attention, are an inferior technology and definitely aren’t new. Outside of a couple of niches, they are more of a distraction from deployment of effective utility-scale, horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT) than anything else.
Vertical axis wind turbines aren’t replacing horizontal axis offshore turbines
By
Mike Barnard
Over the past few months, an interesting wrinkle on the vertical-axis-wind-turbines-are-better mythology has surfaced: that they are superior offshore and that many countries are investing heavily in offshore VAWTs. Over the course of several discussions, numerous named countries and companies were thrown at me, always without links or documents proving assertions. A little digging found a different story each time than the one being touted by offshore VAWT advocates.
Rebuttal to Another Eggbeater Oh My–Saskatoon’s Lux
By
Glen Lux
Thank you for your critique on the CBC article. I do not expect to get praise or support from anyone …
Another Eggbeater Oh My–Saskatoon’s Lux: More Over-the-top VAWT Hype
By
Paul Gipe
It must be a slow news week out on the Canadian Prairies. No big city mayor smoking crack or threatening to kill someone in Saskatchewan to grab attention. Instead they’re touting another—yes another—Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) “invention”.
FBI: Canadian Indicted for Securities and Wire Fraud Touting Mag-Wind
By
Paul Gipe
United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that on October 18, 2013, a federal grand jury in Raleigh, North Carolina returned a two-count indictment charging JAMES ALAN ROWAN with securities fraud and wire fraud.
