Vertical axis turbines, as opposed to horizontal axis turbines, are best
described as looking like large eggbeaters, where a series of curved,
swooping blades capture the wind to spin a centrally mounted, vertically
oriented hub.
The reality is that the wind power industry worldwide has unilaterally
chosen the horizontal axis configuration as the chosen design and all
large scale turbines have evolved in that direction. This hasn't stopped
entrepreneurial pioneers like McKenzie Bay International, whose WindStor
Power Co. aims to prove that there is indeed more than one option for wind
turbine design.
WindStor recently secured a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA)with The
Ishpeming Housing Commission, which manages the Pioneer Bluff senior
citizen apartment complex in Ishpeming, Michigan, where the new turbine
will be installed. Contractors are putting the final touches on the large
concrete foundation for the turbine and full installation is expected by
the end of July.
The turbine is designed to rotate at a maximum speed of 50 rpm and reach
its rated power output of 200 kW at wind speeds of 12m/s (26.84 mph), says
the company, which expects the turbine to produce approximately 500,000
kWh per year in average wind speeds of 7m/s (15.66 mph).
"The wind turbine will generate electricity to be fed into the 88 unit
low-income senior apartment building, serving as a supplement to the
electricity currently supplied by the Upper Peninsula Power Co.," said
Evelyn Valente-Heikkala, executive director of the Ishpeming Housing
Commission. "Pioneer Bluff is an all-electric facility, so electricity
costs are quite high. The wind turbine will generate more than half of the
electricity needed to run the facility."
A state-based organization has helped move the project along. WindStor and
more than 60 additional organizations and companies are a part of Michigan
GREEN, a group of energy companies and energy consultants, together with
government agencies and schools, colleges and universities that have
joined forces to champion the cause of providing economic renewable energy
generation and education at schools in Michigan and the nation.
The project isn't the first either. Since October of 2004, WindStor has
had a similar, yet smaller, 100 kW vertical axis wind turbine operating at
the Universite due Quebec en Abitibi-Temiscamingue in Rouyn-Noranda,
Quebec, Canada. This latest, however, will be twice the size and a further
validation of the design.
For more construction photographs, see the second link below.
