A Lower-cost System for Wind Power Generation on Individual Farms and Ranches

There is potential for a vast expansion of wind-power production in rural America. The key is development of affordable, cost-effective systems. The major barrier to wind-power generation on farms and ranches is the current high cost of wind turbines. Wind Innovations proposes an entirely new approach that promises to substantially reduce the cost of wind-power systems. Preliminary results indicate that this new system, called the Wind Fin, can eliminate current environmental objections to small wind-power systems while costing significantly less. Researchers will evaluate and test the technical feasibility of a Wind Fin design for farm and ranch use that will sell for 50 percent less than state-of-the-art commercial wind turbines of equivalent size-with equal or superior performance. They will conduct an end-user survey of farmers and ranchers to determine acceptability criteria for the Wind Fin, design a 1kW prototype, model its performance characteristics and manufacturing costs, and compare these to leading commercial 1kW wind turbines. The Wind Innovations team includes highly qualified market-research, mechanical/electrical-design, wind-power, manufacturing, and cost-modeling expertise. Using the Wind Fin, farms and ranches could not only supply their own energy needs but also harvest enough wind energy to sell to utilities, fostering rural development.