WIND TURBINES IN ACTION

Wind power is not just for terrestrial or offshore generation - it's also useful for transport

 

 

 

In windy areas, turbine generators are increasingly used to provide an independent and economic electricity supply.  Offshore generation and hilltop sites are among the favorite.  Where the planning process has made it a costly and lengthy exercise to apply for permission, the British Government is seeking to streamline applications to assist developers. 

 

  

It is nigh on impossible to obtain planning permission in Britain for moderate back-yard installations and the cost and effort involved is prohibitive taking up to 2 years simply to be refused.  However, home generation is popular in other Countries such as Canada and Australia.  It is possible to buy many components in kit form over the counter.  Where previously, only a handful of home experimenters persisted in their efforts to use this pollution free and plentiful energy source.   This could never happen in Britain  >>>>>

 

  

Large offshore turbine rafts have been proposed as an alternative to seabed mounted windfarms.

 

Boat owners all over the world use windgens such as Ampair for auxiliary generation.   A team designing a solar powered catamaran called Solar Navigator, plan to use wind generators to supply energy for auxiliary use such as communications.

            

   

It is planned to use wind turbines on Solarnavigator to supply energy for cooking, pumping water, hydraulics, instruments and communications.  Excess generated energy will be stored in the ships batteries.   Experiments are under way to determine the best method of implementation.

       

 

 

 

SOME USEFUL LINKS

British Wind Energy Assoc (BWEA)

European Wind Energy Assoc  (EWEA)     

Assoc of British Offshore Ind (ABOI)         

Danish Wind Turbine Manufacturers Assoc  

Energy Technology Support Unit (ETSU)    

Office of Science and Tech (OST)                 

Eng & Physical Sciences R Council (EPSRC)   

Natural Environment R Council (NERC)    

Central Lab of R Councils (CLRC)                

Euro Community R & D Inf Service (CORDIS)  

Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE)

Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)

 

 

Worlds first wind turbine powered hybrid ship

 

SOME USEFUL LINKS

 

 

 

 

HOW DOES SOLAR NAVIGATOR BENEFIT FROM WIND TURBINES ?

 

 

HOW CAN A BOAT BENEFIT FROM WIND TURBINES ?

 

 

Bluefish Robot Boat Front Elevation 2013

 

 

 

You can see from the drawing above that the Bluefish ZCC (Bluebird Marine Systems Ltd) has four mini wind turbines, each of which generates 1.5Kw to provide enough energy to run the integrated autonomous hardware. With research projects such as this, the equipment is bulky and relatively energy hungry, but with each refinement the controlling chips, software and mechanical end effectors become smaller and more efficient. 

 

SolarNavigator was the first (proposed) autonomous vessel to harness wind energy in this way, but the Bluefish ZCC development programme (again a proposed development of GB1301488) has taken this a stage further with up to 40kW wind turbines onboard for a civilian vessel and 80kW for military variants. You can read more about how the system works on their pages by clicking on the pictures above and below.

 

 

 

Bluebird luxury yacht design proposal

 Bluebird yacht with wind turbines raised mid point

 

Bluefish Robot Boat sporting 2 x 20kW wind turbines and the ability to raise and lower the turbines into and out of the airstream - as conditions dictate.

 

 

 

 

 

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