Bill Gates has backed a novel merry-go-round wind power turbine that’s set to change the landscape.
The Microsoft billionaire has invested in Airloom Energy, who have developed a carousel-style system of wind farming.
Gate’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund had led $4 million in seed funding for the innovation touted to slash the cost of wind energy production.
The unique utility-scale wind power device is said to produce the same amount of power as a conventional horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) at a small fraction of the mass and cost.
Standard wind turbines can approach a height of 500 feet (152.40 m) , with 180-foot blades rotating on a 300-foot tower.
In contrast, the typical Airloom utilizes the same physics but runs 30-foot blades along a lightweight track with a total height of 80 feet (24.38 m) .
The Wyoming-based company is currently operating a 50-kilowatt test device.
Gate’s investment, supported by investors including Lowercarbon Capital and MCJ Collective, is fueling research and development of the Airloom wind energy test device.
Future systems are expected to be megawatt scale, run to 400m (1312.34 feet) length and deploy hundreds of megawatts at a time in utility-scale wind farms.
Airloom explain: “Cost and environmental advantages extend over the Airloom’s entire lifecycle. It uses readily sourced materials to ensure rapid manufacturing, and an entire 2.5 MW Airloom could be transported in one standard tractor trailer.
“It can be configured high or low, short or long, to optimize siting, viewplane and usage, and does not require large concrete foundations in commissioning. The decrease in overall weight and materials also means greatly reduced landfill impacts at the end of its use.”
Carmichael Roberts, of Breakthrough Energy Ventures, add: “For decades, the wind industry has lowered the cost of energy production by scaling ever larger turbines.
“Although this has been extremely successful in driving down overall costs, the approach now faces challenges in terms of both siting and cost of materials.
“Airloom’s unique approach can solve both these problems, opening new market opportunities for wind energy that will further drive down costs. We look forward to Neal’s leadership in bringing this revolutionary technology into the market.”
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