Roof top wind turbine for urban areas
High electricity prices and the lowering costs of renewable technologies and energy storage are leading European energy consumers towards a distributed generation and self-consumption model. Electricity consumers are progressively turning into prosumers (producers & consumers) who decide at a given moment whether to buy electricity from the grid, to self-consume or even to export it to the grid. Moreover, European energy regulations require EU consumers to commit to clean and energy efficient objectives. For instance, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive requires all new buildings to be nearly zero-energy (NZEB) by the end of 2020 by reducing energy consumption and using renewable sources and all new public buildings to be NZEB by 2018. The most extended renewable energy in the world is wind power. However, wind power is not very common in urban areas where high speed laminar wind turns into a low speed turbulent one due to the existence of obstacles (buildings, houses, trees, structures, etc.). Traditional wind power turbines are not designed to work with low speed wind (2 m/s – 6m/s) and turbulent wind flows. Besides, traditional SWTs entail other serious problems such as the hazard of rotating machinery, vibrations, noise, the possibility of collapse atop buildings, blade shedding and visual impact. EOLI FPS is a patented rooftop vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) specifically designed to work under low speed and turbulent wind profiles such as the existing in urban environments. EOLIS FPS works perfectly with horizontal laminar wind but also take advantage of turbulent flows that adversely affect traditional wind turbines. Its internal rotor design facilitates the creation of vortexes out of the wind turbulence that drastically increases the driving force of the laminar wind. Besides EOLI FPS is safe, noiseless, does not vibrate and integrates aesthetically in the urban landscape.