Supercharged Small Turbines Transform Domestic Power

By Ellie Goodman

Defying the notions of wind power as inefficient, the Blade X1, a small wind turbine devised by Dutch company Cell Technologies, generates enough electricity to power an average family home. Its inventors hope it can tackle global energy poverty.

At 1.4m high and 60cm wide, the Blade X1 can be easily fixed to a pole on a roof or in a garden. Expected to generate up to 3,000 kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually, the near-silent turbine will go into production in late 2025 and retail for €2,500 ($2,730). About 60,000 units are to be manufactured and distributed worldwide each year.

“This is how we tackle energy poverty –?giving everyone the chance to make their homes more sustainable and generate their own green energy. That is our mission,” the inventors, Marcel Naaktgeboren and Fran?ois Huijbregts, said.

According to Betz’s law – an aerodynamics principle – no turbine can capture more than 59% of wind’s potential energy. However, the Blade X1 has been able to circumvent this by using a plastic hood that rotates with the wind’s direction like a weathervane. Wind is prevented from escaping at the back of the turbine and instead sent round again.

Because of this, the aluminium blades that catch the wind aren’t slowed down by a vortex, like with traditional turbines. In a transmission system similar to a car’s, wind power is transferred from larger gears to smaller ones that control the generator. “Betz’s law still applies, but we use the energy from the wind twice,” Naaktgeboren explained.

Representing a crucial step forward in renewable energy, innovations such as the Blade X1 make wind-powered energy generation a domestic opportunity – much like solar energy –?offering an alternative to consumers looking to move away from fossil fuels towards self-generated clean electricity.

This article was first published on Stylus.com on October 15. ?