Seven vertical axis wind turbines have been erected at the Olympic Park in London. Instead of building one big wind turbine, as it had initially been announced, the authorities instead built seven smaller versions, but ones adapted to low-speed city winds.
The turbines have been announced to have the capacity of 8 kWh each and to be able of producing up to 7,500 kWh per year at wind speeds of up to seven meters per second.
Quiet Revolution is the manufacturer of the seven vertical axis wind turbines codenamed “qr5.” The British company didn’t provide further details on the project because of the restrictions posed by the International Olympic Committee, but it’s known that they cost the equivalent of $62,000 (£40,000) and they’ll recover their price in about 12 years.
“These seven turbines serve a valuable dual function by providing 40 per cent of the energy for high-powered streetlights as well contributing to the overall renewable energy target. The turbines are connected to the Park’s energy supply, which feed renewable energy into the Olympic Park energy network during the day, which offsets power used by the lamp at night,” said a spokesman for the Olympic Delivery Authority.
Criticized or not, this year’s Olympic Games are the greenest ever (ok, maybe those in ancient Greece surpassed them) and the organizers deserve all the kudos possible for their work and investment in the technology and in setting an example and maybe a standard for future editions.
[via businessgreen/cleantechnica]
