Energy Daily has an insightful article about an intriguing new generation wind turbine developed by BroadStar Wind Systems. The new design, which can be viewed at the right, is unlike most wind turbines. It apparently, however, has some substantial advantages including the fact that it can be manufactured, transported, installed and maintained at a lower cost than conventional wind turbines.
As added benefits, it can reportedly produce power for less than $1/watt and, because it is substantially smaller than conventional turbines, it can "infill" existing wind farms for greater overall power generation. In other words, it makes more productive use of each acre of land.
Now, I’m not an engineer so I don’t claim to know with certainty that this turbine doesn’t have some drawbacks or limits, but there are other innovative designs for wind turbines as well, and I merely want to suggest that people in the wind power industry be open to the idea that they may need to unlearn what they "think" a wind turbine should look like.
