Vertical Axis Windpower Systems and Opportunities

July 29, 2004, Berkeley Lab , Bldg 66 Auditorium

This half-day conference is to introduce the motivations, concepts, and opportunities created by a new series of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) that have been designed in collaboration with Empire Magnetics of Rohnert Park, CA, The State Rocket Center (SRC) of Miass, Russia and Berkeley Lab under the sponsorship of the Department of Energy Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention (IPP) Program.   Installed wind power is growing rapidly and the need for additional renewable energy sources will be a growing market.   Richard Heinberg, author of   "The Party's Over" , will kick off the meeting with his analysis of the current and future world oil situation and the implications of the changing energy needs and costs of the future.   Ryan Wiser of LBNL will present his work on the economics of small wind ( less than 100 kW units) in light of current rebate structures in the US and then the meeting will turn to discussions of the applications and progress made in the design of a viable wind energy system for this market.   The late afternoon will be dedicated to stand alone system possibilities using this technology.   Two new business entities have been created to bring this to market - Wind-Sail in the United States and SRC Vertical in Russia.   Those interested in assisting to bring this technology to market will have time available at the end of the day for one-on-one discussions with the new company representatives.

Contact Glen Dahlbacka, ghdahlbacka@lbl.gov , 510-486-5358 for information and a site pass and directions .

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