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.
Bluenergy Giving Me the Blues
By
Paul Gipe
What’s up with Canada? I’ve gotten two enquiries from the Great White North about Bluenergy Solarwind, a US company claiming to have developed another vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT).
Sex Sells–Even Wind Energy: The Dalhart Mystery
By
Paul Gipe
Sex sells. Always has, always will. Sex has been used to sell beer, cars, and even wind energy–well, at least articles about wind energy.
CGE Energy Touting Its Uncertified Darrieus Wind Turbine
By
Paul Gipe
CGE Energy recently issued a press release applauding the US Congress for extending tax subsidies to small wind turbines. The press release also touts CGE’s Darrieus wind turbine, the Wind-e 20.
Performance of Swiss Darrieus Wind Turbine Alpha Real Mirrors that in California of the 1980s
By
Paul Gipe
The 1992 report on the project by the Centre de Recherche Energétiques et Municpales reads like so many of the others from the period. In short, the four-year project was a failure for a host of reasons that the report highlights.
French Post Card and CENG’s Darrieus Turbine
By
Paul Gipe
Wind historian extraordinaire Etienne Rogier sent me a carte postale (post card) promoting a 1988 French postage stamp. The card depicts the postage stamp and an experimental Darrieus turbine.
UGE: Wind turbine blades falling off Addison’s water tower result in $1 million flop, crazy lawsuit
By
Dave Lieber
The turbines ran for three months before one blade fell to the ground 190 feet below. Then a second blade crashed through a nearby storage building’s roof, falling into a conference room. No one was hurt.
