Traditional wind systems have had either a horizontal axis with a single blade (95+% of what is in use today) or vertical axis with a single blade (think large egg beater anchored to the ground.) A company called Mass Megawatts Wind Power Inc. is advancing the application of multi-axis vertical turbines, that is many blades mounted vertically in a box-like array around 20 meters off the ground.

The thinking behind this technology is that with more smaller blades, lower wind speeds will be able to output power than in traditional horizontal turbine systems. The design has two generator modes, one 7.5 kilowatt that cuts in at under 4.5 meter/second (~10mph) and another 22.5 kilowatt that cuts in at 6.25 meters/second (~14 mph.) Each unit has 32 generators attached to 32 shafts with blades. That means in a 6 m/s wind, 100% output would be around 864 kilowatts/hour and in a 8 m/s wind, 100% output would be 2,592 kilowatts hour. The image above is a smaller prototype system.

Wind systems rarely operate at 100% capacity, in fact, the average capacity factor is 30% across the installed wind farms. If we take this into account, the MAT system would produce somewhere between 2,267 and 6,811 megawatt hours per year depending upon which generator has the dominant share of time in action. At the prevaling wind rate of $45/MWh, that gives a revenue spread per unit per year of $101,015 on the low end to $306,495 on the high end. The acquisition and construction cost of each unit is estimated (by Mass Megawatts) to be $210,000 per unit. If the MAT unit performs as above and maintenance costs don’t kill it, it might be economically viable.

The science of harvesting kinetic energy from the wind is pretty straight forward, the density of the air moving through the swept area of the turbine at some speed dictates how much energy can be harvested. The formula is: Power = 0.5 x Swept Area x Air Density x Velocity³. Without accurate measurements of the blades on the MAT we can’t make the calculation, but at first blush, the swept area doesn’t look sufficient to produce the stated power levels. This is physics, the equation has to solve so if the area is smaller, then the velocity has to increase and/or air density has to increase.

The other claim made by the MAT folks is that the maintenance costs are lower. I’m high skeptical of this as basic physics dictates the more moving parts an object has, the more opportunities for things to break. In a traditional horizontal turbine there is one blade assembly, one gearbox, one turbine etc you get the picture. On the MAT, there are 32 turbines, 32 shafts, who knows how many blades; it’s at least 32x more likely to experience failure in a given time frame. Now, with the horizontal turbine, a failure tends to be complete. In a MAT, that’s not necessarily so, if 1 shaft/generator/blade combo goes, theorhetically, the other 31 are still in business.

I’m all for experimentation and open minded that breakthroughs can and do happen, but I don’t think we’re seeing one here. A part of me hopes that there is something to this, but the evidence seems to suggest that this design introduces more problems than it solves. We’ll see as Mass Megawatts installs their wind farm, the business plan calls for 100 units to be installed this calendar year. Proof will be in production and we’ll be able to see that as a result of their quarterly reports. We’ll be watching with interest.


If you liked this entry, Digg It!
Tune: What’s Up? by 4 Non-Blondes
Technorati Tags: Energy | Wind | Multi-axis Turbine | Mike Harding Blog

Before reading this post, watch this movie:



In science, there are thousands of these (my favorite is Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle) types of things and in technology too, though they tend to be described as “laws” – i.e., Moore’s Law, Metcalfe’s Law, etc. I felt that I had at least one minor contribution to make in this area, and here it is.

Harding’s Water Principle:
Common sense and good judgment are water soluble.

Corollary:
The rate of decline of common sense and good judgment accelerates as the temperature drops.

Kind of boring, I know. But if you think about the principle and simply observe one trait of our society when water is added in vapor, liquid, or solid form, you’ll know it’s a true principle: driving. The data support this, accidents increase in the presence of precipitation. Intellectually, everyone knows to slow down when it’s foggy, wet, snowing, and/or icy, but somehow our common sense and good judgment are suspended or somehow degraded at this time. I don’t know why it happens, I can only observe that it happens.

Don’t believe it? See the entry on “Snow snorkeling” and tell me how that contradicts the principle….oh, you want DATA, ok, here it is:


Data Sources: California Highway Patrol and the National Weather Service.

There you have it, a new principle. Please feel free to use and abuse it.


If you liked this entry, Digg It!
Tune: Drivin’ My Life Away by Eddie Rabbit
Technorati Tags: Harding’s Principle | Water | Stupidity | Mike Harding Blog

In an article about world oil prices posted on CNN yesterday, Exxon CEO Rex W. Tillerson, is quoted “Crude prices in New York would be around $40-$45 a barrel without the risk of supply disruptions.” That may be true, but if we look at recent price history, that’s still 2x what crude was selling for in 2002. Check the chart below which has the average price of crude oil per barrel.



I believe that market demand, not only from the US, but globally continues to increase while supply stays relatively flat. That’s a sure fire recipe for price increase. Yes, more oil reserves are being discovered, but each successive discovery is more expensive to harvest. Make no mistake about it, oil is never going to be “cheap” again.


If you liked this entry, Digg It!
Tune: Party Girl by U2
Technorati Tags: Energy | Oil Price | Supply Disruption | Mike Harding Blog

Well, the M-Zone doesn’t have much to report on now other than obscure winter (sports?) – like snow snorkeling and perhaps we’ll see a curling entry. But, those fellows are always good for a laugh or two. So, they’ve brought us this:

Click the picture to get the whole story….if you want it.




If you liked this entry, Digg It!
Tune: Que Onda Guero by Beck
Technorati Tags: Snow Snorkeling | Obscure Sports | M-Zone | Mike Harding Blog

The Reese River project is underway with a 1,200m slim hole for exploration. Sierra Geothermal expects to tap somewhere between 13 and 30 megawatts (MW) when the project enters production. At 30MW, that represents enough power to run around 26,000 households in the US for a year.

An interesting side note on this is that Sierra’s drilling program is receiving some $580,000 of Federal assistance throught the GRED program, a program that has been eliminated with the release of the FY2007 US Federal budget. See this entry for more detail on this subject.

Thanks to Jim for passing this along.


If you liked this entry, Digg It!
Tune: Yellow by Coldplay
Technorati Tags: Energy | Geothermal | Drilling | Mike Harding Blog