Technologies. Urban Wind Farms

Putting Urban Winds to Work

Urban winds are notoriously difficult to capture and turn into useful electricity.

Turbulence. Low wind speeds. Sudden gusts that come and go with little warning. Regulations limiting tower heights.

All present a significant challenge to wind turbine developers and installers targeting the urban environment.

Unlike the power generation solutions used today which are inherently ill-suited for the winds typically found in most cities, the VWS-X Series of low-RPM, variable-speed solutions is perfectly suited for optimal performance in these gusty winds.

Capability: The  VWS-X Series generator is the only solution available today which, thanks to the integrated VRS technology, has the unique ability to turn off the generator field excitation entirely until wind speeds reach a minimum threshold.

Result: Lower turbine cut-in speed can be achieved since the generator's mechanical inertia is reduced significantly until power generation becomes economically feasible (i.e. until rotor RPMs reach a certain speed).

Capability: The VRS "knows" how much mechanical energy input is required to enable generator field excitation. The generator excitation is therefore turned off so the blades can spin freely in whatever winds are available. Once a minimum rotor RPM level is reached whereby the mechanical energy exceeds the electrical energy that can be produced at the given wind speed, the field excitation is turned on.

Result:  In addition to lowering the cut-in speed, the grid (or some other external power source) is no longer needed to provide the low-speed start-up required by many vertical wind turbines today to overcome initial mechanical inertia, and so improves turbine cost-effectiveness.

Capability: VRS-enabled VRS-X Series generators deliver stable voltage at high efficiency regardless of RPMs [as determined by variations in wind speed].

Result: Wind gusts are no longer a limiting factor. If the available winds are strong enough to spin the turbine, the VWS-X technology can deliver grid-quality electricity, efficiently and cost-effectively. It's that simple.