Advantages of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines
VAWTs offer a number of advantages over traditional horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs). They can be packed closer together in wind farms, allowing more in a given space. This is not because they are smaller, but rather due to the slowing effect on the air that HAWTs have, forcing designers to separate them by ten times their width.
VAWTs are rugged, quiet, omni-directional, and they do not create as much stress on the support structure. They do not require as much wind to generate power, thus allowing them to be closer to the ground. By being closer to the ground they are easily maintained and can be installed on chimneys and similar tall structures.
Research at Cal Tech has also shown that carefully designing wind farms using VAWTs can result in power output ten times as great as a HAWT wind farm the same size.
However most of the above claims are considered debatable by people with experience of wind engineering. There is very little history of successful VAWT operation, despite their very long history. During this history they have repeatedly been portrayed as innovative, more efficient, quieter, more bird-friendly, more cost-effective etc whereas there is no factual evidence for any of these claims.
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