Vertical axis wind turbine types, efficiencies, and structural stability - A review

Abstract

Much advancement has been made in wind power due to modern technological developments. The wind energy technology is the world's fastest-growing energy option. More power can be generated from wind energy by the use of new design and techniques of wind energy machines. The geographical areas with suitable wind speed are more favorable and preferred for wind power deployment over other sources of energy generation. Today's wind turbines are mainly the horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) and vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs). HAWTs are commercially available in various sizes starting from a few kilowatts to multi-megawatts and are suitable for almost all applications, including both onshore and offshore deployment. On the other hand, VAWTs finds their places in small and residential wind applications. The objective of the present work is to review the technological development, available sizes, efficiencies, structural types, and structural stability of VAWTs. Structural stability and efficiencies of the VAWTS are found to be dependent on the structural shape and size.