The proposed novel wind driver is attractive to consumers for the following reasons:

• it can operate at wind speeds below 2 m/s, i.e., generate electricity practically year-round;
• it is compact and has no exposed moving parts, and can therefore be installed in the vicinity of houses, industrial premises, and other dwellings and production facilities, which reduces expenditures and losses involved in power transmission;
• erection and commissioning costs are very low, and the work takes a minimum of time, which means that the wind driver can quickly be transferred to a new site, and
• servicing is convenient because the main units of the driver (the generators, converters, transmission, etc.) are situated below the rotating platform, 1.5 m above the ground (at less than a person's height).

The new wind drivers can be erected and assembled at the site by two persons using a truck crane with a rated load capacity of 1.5 tons. The principal operations are: the preparation of a 10 x 10m site (clearing it of large refuse); the unpacking of the large assembly units; the setting up of the support; the mounting of the platform; the assembling of the blades and stabilizers, and the installation of the electrical equipment. All the assembly work takes 8 hours.

Two wind driver models have been developed and tested in operation: the VEUR-6 (1.56 kW rated power) and theVEUR-24 (6.25 kW rated power). In Table I, the performance characteristics of the new wind drivers are compared with those of the best foreign analogs: the VEUR-6 characteristics are compared with those of the Rennexport/Aeroturbine machines; the VEUR-24, with the machines of the Danish Wind Technology firm. For an evaluation of their relative competitiveness. Table provides indices for their main parameters (power, minimal wind speed, mass, and price) and the total indices for the new wind drivers with respect to their analogs.

The proposed wind drivers are superior to their closest analogs in all their main performance characteristics and have a high index of competitiveness.

The minimal factory (wholesale) price of the VEUR-6 can be fixed at $5,600; theVEUR-24, at $25,000.

Initially the drivers will be sold at the following retail prices: $14,500 for the VEUR-6; $55,000 for theVEUR-24. In that case, production without loss will require the output of oneVEUR-24 and three VEUR-6 installations in two months.

The mean annual cost of the generated electricity at a mean annual wind speed of 5 m/s (for the analogs this is given as 8 to 12 m/s, but these are unrealistic speeds in continental regions) and at a price of $0.05 per kWh will then be:

• for theVEUR-24 - 6.25 x 8736 x 0.05 = $2730

• for the VEUR-6 - 1.56 x 8736 x 0.05 = $681

(These estimates relate to price setting in Russia.)

for the VEUR-6 –

• rural dwellers, private home-owners;
• urban dwellers, retired people, and others spending the summer season at their gardening plots in the country;
• warehouses and small stores, and
• small workshops.

• farmers and collective farms;
• small industrial facilities and units;
• livestock farms and stockyards;
• stores, restaurants, and community centers, and
• owners of cottages and mansions.

Back