SheerWind Wind Generator Hopes to Reduce Wind Power Costs
Wind turbines have long been receiving criticism saying that they are noisy and destroy landscapes and birds. SheerWind, a wind power startup from Minnesota, has come up with a new type of ducted wind turbine that can bring more output than the traditional wind turbines.
The company has introduced a new system named INVELOX system which has the ability to operate in wind speeds as low as 2 MPH. It is a wind generation system designed to capture, accelerate and concentrate wind power.
With this unique design, the cost of wind power can be reduced to less than 3 cents per KWH. While the traditional wind turbines draw energy with a generator on the top of a mast, the INVELOX system applies a funnel system to harness the wind and makes it pass through a tapering tunnel before entering through a ground-mounted generator.
In addition to this, the system also uses numerous towers to channel the wind into a single generator. The blades used in the turbines by the SheerWind are 80 percent smaller than those used in conventional turbines.
Another advantage of SheerWind is its smaller, ground-based turbines. The ground-based turbines can significantly reduce installation and maintenance costs.
SheerWind was awarded the Cleantech Open’s North Central Region Sustainability Award for the INVELOX.
