In the Near Future: Wind Power Without the Turbines

Wind power is great, except for all those moving parts.

Turbine maintenance remains one of those difficult problems for the wind power industry. In short, the blades, shafts and other moving parts in wind turbines—like all mechanical objects-need regular care and feeding and occasionally break down. Maintenance is even more difficult when you move from onshore wind farms to offshore wind farms. See picture.

That will change in the future, sources tell me. Various start-ups are working on turbine-less wind systems. Makani Power is the first out of the gate in this area. The company wants to put kites up in the atmosphere that will harvest energy from strong, high-altitude winds. In a traditional wind turbine, the turning blades essentially harvest mechanical power, which is then converted to electricity via a geneator. The kites do the same thing, but instead of rotating, they harvest mechanical energy by bouncing up and down.

And then there is Gigagreen, which uses dirigibles. Oh, the humanity!

Other start-ups are examining ways to harness wind through oscillation, but trying to avoid the challenge of flying kites at high altitudes. (I haven’t checked yet, but one can imagine Vestas and GE funding research into non-turbine wind machines as well.) More will come out soon, I’m told. Just passing this along now because it could emerge as a major debate in 2009.