Racing For Affordable Wind Power  

Cleantech.com has a report on an unusual looking new small-scale wind turbine from Broadstar Wind Systems, who are claiming it can produce cheap wind power.

A stealth wind turbine company emerges claiming $1 per watt, but a competitor questions its technology.

Dallas, Texas-based BroadStar Wind Energy today emerged from stealth at WINDPOWER 2008 and revealed its AeroCam Turbine, which it claims can be deployed almost anywhere—including urban environments—and to the competition's chagrin, at a cost-effective $1 per watt installed.

Five years in the making, the AreoCam was designed for commercial applications and aims to compete with large solar rooftop installations and looks to be included in existing wind farm installments. According to serial entrepreneur and CEO Steve Else, BroadStar is an attractive alternative to solar where the getting energy from the sun isn’t an option.

What if there’s not enough wind? Else says that’s not a problem. “Our installations are at the concentration of flow at the power pit of a building. We can achieve a 30 per cent increase of the speed of the wind at the line of the power pit,” says Else. “The sun doesn’t shine everywhere, but the wind doesn’t blow everywhere either.”

With the U.S. Department of Energy issuing a report last month stating that the wind industry growth in the U.S. could be more successful with governmental incentives (see Wind power push could depend on incentives), this year's WINDPOWER conference set on proving the industry will charge agressively forward.

To provide the industry further fodder for growth, a wind vendor survey by Germany's Husum WindEnergy suggested the industry expects to grow extensively over the next several years and anticipates 170,000 MW of wind turbines to be installed—up from a reported 20,000 MW in 2007.

While BroadStar is barely entering its pilot stage, Else is convinced that once his turbines are deployed and certified, they’ll have a lot of turbines in places where conventional technology cannot be deployed due to the scale of equipment involved.

Currently BroadStar says it is in final negotiation for pilot programs for two Fortune 100 companies and hopes to have a total of six pilot programs across different industries this year. “The initial pilots are in the 40 KW range,” says Else. ...

Other wind medium-to-small turbine equipment companies include Southwest Windpower, Bergey Windpower, Solar Wind Works and Entegrity Wind Systems, just to name a few.

BroadStar’s AeroCam, which was designed with airplane wings in mind, promises to pick up the wind drafts that hit buildings and then move upward-catching currents as gentle as 4 mph in excess of 80 mph.

BroadStar says these turbines are ideal for both the urban and suburban settings and are ideal for high and low-rise buildings, commercial rooftops and parking structures, warehouses, and shopping malls and elsewhere.