System burns biofuels to keep wind turbines spinning

Now, Hybrid Turbines of Lafayette, Colorado, has developed a solution to the problem. The company’s patent-pending design burns biofuels or natural gas to spin wind-turbine generators even if the wind is not blowing.

Its so-called SmartGen system burns a fuel in a combustion chamber to spin a gas turbine, which drives a compressor to compress air, which is then is stored in a tank. The compressed air is consequently used to spin a turbo-air motor connected to the wind-turbine generator, producing power on demand. An automatic clutch disconnects the wind-turbine blades from the generator when an air motor is engaged.

Nick Verini, president at Hybrid Turbines, said: ’Wind turbines, even in good wind resource areas, typically generate rated power only 30 per cent of the time because the wind blows intermittently or at a lower wind velocity. Our SmartGen system, which is designed to be incorporated into new wind-turbine designs, enables them to generate power at their rated capacity 100 per cent of the time.’