Wind technology generally faces two challenging facts: the wind is much more powerful higher up in the air and good locations for wind turbines are often far away from where electricity is needed.
A startup company called Altaeros in Massachusetts has a solution for both problems: the Buoyant Airborne Turbine or BAT. It is basically a balloon that lifts a wind turbine. The BAT can reach 2,000 feet in altitude where wind speeds are faster and have much greater power density.
The Altaeros BAT is a helium-filled wind turbine that looks like a small blimp. It can generate twice the energy of a similarly sized ground-based turbine. A long cable tethers the BAT to the ground and transmits the energy. The BAT can be installed pretty much anywhere, so that is practical to bring electricity to remote islands and other locations where installing a turbine would be complicated and prohibitively expensive. The quick and easy installation makes the technology a good candidate for disaster zones, oil and gas mining operations, and anywhere else where electricity is expensive and difficult to access.
Altaeros plans to install the first turbine in a pilot project in Fairbanks, Alaska by the end of this year. Alaska has some of the highest electricity rates in the US and especially in remote locations, the BAT can be less expensive and quicker to install and operate. The floating platform could also be used to house other equipment such as communications gear.
Wind turbine blimps may be on the way.
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Floating wind turbines bring electricity where it’s needed
Photo courtesy of Altaeros Energies
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.