Cygnus Power wants to harness the natural power of the wind
Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 20 Nov 09;
SINGAPORE - The ventilation units of large buildings and shopping malls could one day be the site of wind farms in Singapore if a local start-up has its way.
Cygnus Power wants to install wind turbines - not the common windmill-like structures, but aerodynamic blades that rotate like a silent, revolving cylinder - next to the vents to harness the energy otherwise wasted.
With just a wind speed of 2.5 metres per second - the speed of an average jogger - needed for a small model to start generating electricity, the company believes wind energy can be introduced here where wind energy is commonly thought unfeasible, given the mild winds that come in multiple directions.
Yet, in October last year, a Taiwanese company tried to find a distributor for a similar vertical axis wind turbine said to be suited for urban use, without making further inroads.
Has anything changed since Today first reported about that pioneer attempt?
Yes, according to a check on the Government's business opportunities portal Gebiz.
Three tenders have been called for wind turbines in the last six months - from the National Parks Board, the Institute of Technical Education and Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) - suggesting a recent heightened interest in wind power in the public sector.
And NYP could become the first in Singapore to have a vertical axis wind turbine installed.
The turbine order is part of NYP's effort to develop capabilities in clean energy, and is meant for "training and education of students, research and development (and) innovation and support to industry", said a spokesperson.
But the power generated by a 2-kilowatt turbine system - to be supplied by Cygnus Power and installed mid-January - will also be used by the institution, said Mr Chan Yew Meng, Senior Director of NYP's School of Engineering (Electronics).
But whether the turbines take off in a bigger way, he said, will depend on "a matter of economics", such as cost, savings and payback period.
According to Japanese aerodynamics expert Tsuneo Noguchi, who invented the blade design, about 50 to 60 of these turbines are being used atop some streetlights in Ginza, as well as Japan's Ministry of Science and Education.
Efforts began nearly 40 years ago to get vertical axis turbines to start at low wind speeds, but Professor Noguchi, who is also a director of Cygnus Power, said he applied aircraft technology to come up with a breakthrough design. He has patented it in Japan, China and the United States.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Clean Energy Expo Asia, Cygnus Power's chief executive Ong Gin Keat said two major property developers have also expressed interest in the turbines.
"They can be placed not just on top of buildings, but also where buildings form a wind tunnel, or where there's forced draft of ventilation," said Mr Ong.
"Every hotel and shopping centre has chiller and ventilation units, which vent out into the open, and energy is totally lost. It will definitely reduce their cost of operations."
With the adoption of several turbines, "windfarms in large buildings and even shopping centres" can be created.
And while the cost is relatively high - ranging from US$9,000 ($12,500) for a 1kilowatt turbine to US$33,000 for a 5kW one - maintenance is minimal and the payback period is three to 10 years, Mr Ong said.
Blow, wind, blow
Grace Chua, Straits Times 20 Nov 09;
THE windy city Singapore may not be, but researchers here are still confident of tapping wind power.
Where normal wind turbines rotate like the hands of a clock, a new wind turbine on its way here spins like a top. And Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) believes it will be able to generate power at wind speeds too low for conventional wind turbines.
The poly recently awarded the tender to install the device at its campus in Yio Chu Kang.
By early next year, it plans to install a 2 kilowatt (kw) version of the vertical-axis turbine which can power two rice cookers or 50 fluorescent light tubes, said Mr Chan Yew Meng, senior director at NYP's school of engineering.
The school will study the turbine's performance over time, comparing it with conventional models which have a horizontal shaft. The research will be part of a diploma programme in electrical engineering that will be launched next year.
According to local distributor CygnusPower, which won the tender, the new turbines can start generating electricity at wind speeds of 1.3 metres per second (ms), well below Singapore's average of 2ms. In comparison, conventional horizontal-axis turbines need wind speeds of 2ms to 3ms.
The concept of vertical turbines is not new, but the key to CygnusPower's turbine efficiency is its lightweight aluminium-alloy blades which are shaped to catch the wind, said inventor Tsuneo Noguchi, of Japan's Nihon University.
Vertical-axis turbines are less noisy than the horizontal machines and can run on the wind from air-conditioning exhaust fans, Professor Noguchi said.
A basic 1kw system would cost about US$9,000 (S$12,500), not including installation costs, said CygnusPower chief executive Ong Gin Keat.
A Taiwanese competitor, iWind, also produces vertical-axis machines but with a different type of blade.
Past experiments with conventional wind turbines here have not always worked. For example, a local entrepreneur spent $40,000 importing a 2kw wind turbine from Germany in 2006. The project never took off, and the turbine now sits silently atop a Marine Terrace apartment block.
That does not mean wind turbine researchers are merely tilting at windmills.
Small turbines at Changi Naval Base and on Pulau Semakau have powered lights there for the past few years. Danish wind-power giant Vestas invested $500 million in a research centre at Fusionopolis last year, but that was more because of Singapore's push into clean power R&D than its wind power potential.
Vertical-axis turbines have their doubters, like Singapore Polytechnic's Dr Jiang Fan of its clean-energy technology centre. He believes there is too little data available on their performance. But, he added, Singapore Poly plans to test such a turbine by the end of next year.
Mr Chan said that while solar power is probably a more workable solution, it is still too early to rule out wind.
