A new wind turbine design developed by renewables company McCamley UK for urban areas is being tested at Keele University’s Science and Business Park in North Staffordshire.
The vertical-axis turbine comes ‘flat-packed’ and can be retrofitted onto a roof without a supporting mast, making it much easier to install in cities than other similar turbines.
Unlike the now-familiar horizontal-axis turbines, which rely on steady wind speeds, the vertical-axis design devised by McCamley can deal with the turbulent and gusting winds often encountered in urban areas.
While horizontal-axis turbines cease turning if the wind speed drops to less than 2-3 m/s and need to draw power from the grid to restart when the wind picks up again, the new turbine design is self-starting and is self-regulating so that it keeps turning even under gusty conditions.
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