Texas A&M home to largest vertical-axis wind turbine install


Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi can officially say that it now operates the largest vertical-axis wind turbine installation of its kind in the United States.

Vertical-axis wind turbines at Texas A&M University. (Credit: Texas A&M)

To earn this distinction, the $1.2 million project uses three 75-feet tall, 20 kW vertical axis wind turbines which are the largest in the nation and will produce an estimated 217,946 kWh of electricity.

Funded by a $955,000 Distributed Renewable Energy Technology Stimulus Grant from the State Energy Conservation Office and the U.S. Department of Energy, the project is intended, in part, to create opportunities for learning, research, and innovation to apply engineering principles to real-world wind power generation.

"Small wind turbine technology is an emerging technology for distributed and community wind power generation that has seen a significant increase in installed electricity generation over the past 10 years," said Dr. L.D. Chen, associate dean of engineering and computing sciences and director of the school of engineering and computing sciences. "The small wind turbines on campus are an excellent laboratory for the faculty and students to engage in wind turbine research and innovative solutions to harvest rich wind resources in our region."

For more:
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