Introduction
A wind turbine is a device that converts the wind’s kinetic energy into electrical energy. Generally, there are two types of wind turbines. One is the Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) and another is the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT).
In general, the Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines are in big scale, and because of the bigger size, they can comparatively generate more electric power than the Vertical Axis Wind Turbines. However, Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine does not really fit the Hong Kong environment, due to the limitation of land and the condense of the urban area. Also, even the Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines are deployed in remote locations, the infrastructure (e.g. power cable) to connect them to the existing grid is a huge investment.
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines are the future wind power solution for Hong Kong. They are small in size, light weight, can generate power regardless of wind direction, and most importantly, can be deployed in the urban area and connect to the existing grid easily.
WindCycle (by O’Brien) researches and develops the solution of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine for Hong Kong. Currently, we are focusing on improving the Coefficient of Power of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines.
Further information: