Chapter 10

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Farm and Turbine Design

Robert Whittlesey,    Exponent, Los Angeles, CA, United States    Email: rwhittlesey@exponent.com

Abstract

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) represent a unique form of power-generating technology. Historically, they have been relegated to fulfilling a small niche market in commercially available wind turbines due to their “yaw-less” design. Current VAWT designs lag behind their Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) counterparts in terms of efficiency, as measured by their power coefficient. However, new research suggests that these types of wind turbines may be better suited for wind farm installations than previously thought. In this chapter VAWT farm research will be reviewed and ...

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