The Energiya 2020 company owned by Novosibirsk-based businessman Denis Tyaglin has patented a model of the world’s most powerful wind turbine generator, a vertical device that allows producing energy with numerous wind turbines installed at certain height. Unlike horizontal-axis wind turbines, the facility is almost noise-free, which provides an opportunity to integrate it into the building and locate it in the city. Invest Foresight has learnt the details of the project.
Quieter and more powerful
Today, the world mostly uses classical type large horizontal-axis wind turbines, which take up a lot of space in wind parks. They cannot operate with the wind speed lower than 7 meters per second and concentrate the air flow, and produce a lot of noise of up to 70 dB as well as infrasound that has a negative effect on living organisms’ nervous systems. Also, a bladed wind turbine is usually located at the height of up to 190 meters. The wind power station developed by the Energiya 2020 company is free of all these shortcomings, according to Denis Tyaglin. The low speed noiseless wind turbine, which does not produce infrasound, generates electric energy at the minimum wind speed of 3 meters per second. The device is equipped with several generating modules that can be placed at the height of up to 1,000 meters.
According to preliminary information, the capacity of the new wind power station, when installed on a building with the area of 300 sq meters, will total 13 MW with the wind speed of 8 meters per second. Tyaglin believes that the capacity can reach 25-30 MW, with the building itself consuming only 5-7 MW and the remaining energy accumulated in special unit in the event of windless calm.
Game changer in urban development
Tyaglin’s wind power station is designed primarily to be integrated into high-rise buildings. A vertical static axis, equipped with special wind-propelled blades, is installed in the center of a building. The axis is fixed; electric generators are placed under the building, which will protect building rooms from electromagnetic emission. The wind turbine can concentrate the air flow: with a wind speed of 4 meters per second, the device will be impacted by an air flow with a speed of 10-12 meters per second which is sufficient for the wind station to generate electricity in great volumes. The axis is equipped with an aerodynamic shield that reduces the noise produced by working blades at the levels imperceptible by human ear. In addition, the aerodynamic shield forwards the air current directly onto the turbine blades, and wind turbines can be placed and operate inside a high-rise building between residential, office or trade tower blocks and provide it with electricity, while excess energy will be sold.
Investments and analogs
Energiya 2020 received the patent for its wind power station building in November 2018 for a 20-year period, and is now working to obtain patents in various countries as well. By simply offering the idea, the company has attracted RUR 12 mio ($186,500) during four months. Currently, it requires another RUR 500-600 mio to built a prototype of a building with a wind power station with a total area of 30 sq meters.
Novosibirsk is not the only city to have created vertical wind turbine generators. Those also include Guangzhou, China, where Pearl River Tower is located. Yet, Novosibirsk specialists aim to built a more powerful wind turbine generator skyscraper.
By Natalia Kuznetsova